


Ghosts of the Collider

by MiladyDragon



Series: Dragon-Verse: Series Two [14]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Dragon-Verse, Dragons, F/M, Ghosts, Horror, M/M, Very slight Crossover with the MCU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-02-06 06:16:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1847488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiladyDragon/pseuds/MiladyDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a call from Martha Jones at CERN, Jack sends Ianto, Toshiko, and Patrick in to investigate.  Can they discover the secret within the Large Hadron Collider before it's too late?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Dragon-Verse version of the radio play, "Lost Souls". I decided to go with the real world dating for the LHC being activated instead of what the radio play inferred, which puts it firmly in the second series. This story also makes a pretty good segue into "Adam", which you'll see later.
> 
> This is also the first minor crossover between the Dragon-Verse and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I haven't tagged it as such because it's just one character crossing over and he really isn't in it that much. But with Patrick's background, it was bound to happen eventually.

 

**_8 September 2008_ **

****

This was not how Ianto had wanted to spend his evening.

The Weevil had been sighted behind the new nightclub that had sprung up seemingly overnight, and even outside the tacky building Ianto could feel the heavy bass line pounding up through his shoes.  Just another tourist trap along the Bay, and it was already Weevil-bait.

Ianto shook his head.  This really hadn't been the plan for tonight.

“I was supposed to be meeting Eoin for drinks,” Patrick grumbled.  Ianto glanced at his companion; the American would have blended in with the crowd outside the front of the club, if not for the gun in his hand, held at the ready. 

“Jack and I had _plans_ ,” the dragon growled, purposely accenting the word ‘plans’ knowing that Patrick would get it.  He flexed his hand on his own gun.

“Say no more,” he replied, sounding sympathetic.

The pair made their way down the alley next to the club.  Ianto changed his eyes to their dragon aspect, the better to make out the shadows in the deeper patches of darkness.  Patrick had a flashlight that he used to sweep the area, careful not to accidentally blind the dragon, for which Ianto was grateful.  Patrick had only been with Torchwood for a little over a month, and already he’d fit in, becoming a part of the team as if he’d been meant for the position.  Yes, he had a bit too much love for weapons of any kind, but really that was one of the reasons they’d hired him in the first place.  Patrick was usually prepared for pretty much any circumstance, as long as it had to do with some form of mayhem.

There was a sudden movement farther in, and the unmistakable sound of a door slamming accompanied by an increase in the level of bass.  Ianto moved toward the sound, his eyes seeing the open fire exit door just ahead.  He cursed, hoping the Weevil hadn’t gotten into the club…

A very high-pitched scream heard even over the pulsing noise crushed that hope to powder.

Ianto cursed, and with Patrick following he ran to the door, darting within.  The pounding bass surrounded him and he ground his teeth against it, wondering how people could actually enjoy their music like that; so loud they couldn’t even make out that there really was some form of tune being played.  It wasn’t true music to the musically-inclined dragon.

He let his eyes flicker back into their human shape, the better not to be blinded by the strobe lights that flickered and danced across the vast expanse of the club.  It didn’t take much to follow the Weevil’s track as it lurched its way through the crush of people, and Ianto made his way toward the shrieks and shouts that were barely audible above the crashing din.

It seemed the Weevil was confused by the loudness and the close quarters because it began heading back out toward the door it had come in through.  Ianto felt Patrick’s hand on his shoulder; he turned, and the former FBI agent jerked his head back the way they’d come.  The dragon nodded, not wanting to shout and strain his voice, nor needing the verbal cues to understand what his newest team member was communicating. 

Together they made their way to the door, in order to cut the Weevil off.  They really needed to make certain the creature left the club without harming anyone; right now, they could spin the cover story to make it seem like a drunk in an early Halloween costume had broken into the club.  If an innocent was hurt, it could spiral out of control, and the last thing Ianto wanted to do was Retcon an entire building full of people.

Patrick made a hand gesture, suggesting that Ianto try to herd the Weevil back toward the rear door.  One of the things that their newest recruit had put forward was to use a certain set of hand signals in situations where verbal communication was impossible.  At the moment, the only thing they had was a haphazard system of pointing and other such movements, ones that Jack had introduced, and the team were gradually using the ones that Patrick had showed them.  Of course, he’d learned them in the Army and the FBI, and made more sense than the ones Jack had come up with, and Jack had accepted the change with good grace.

Ianto nodded, making his way toward the confused Weevil.  He’d put his gun away the moment he’d stepped into the club, and only held his can of Weevil spray at the ready.  The people who were nearby were reacting to the creature, and the dragon pushed past them to get closer.  They really needed to corral it before anything else happened.  He hated to have to explain to Kathy that they’d had to cover up something this big.

He knew the Weevils were slightly empathic, from Owen’s studies of them, and this one must have somehow sensed his intent because it suddenly stormed past, claws slashing Ianto’s wool coat as it bulldozed past him, letting out a roar of anger and fear.  Ianto was knocked spinning into a young woman who screeched loud enough to be heard over the music; he quickly caught his balance and made his way in the direction the Weevil had gone, mourning the damage done to his coat even as he attempted to catch up to the rampaging alien.

Luckily, it was still heading back toward the open rear door, where Patrick was waiting.  His teammate was of average height, so he wasn’t visible over the crowd, but Ianto could tell easily enough by the club goers parting to make room for the Weevil. 

Just as he was catching up, his mobile vibrated in his pocket.

Ianto cursed.  He knew it wasn’t Jack calling, since he was wearing his comm and his mate would have contacted him through that.  The only thing he could think of was someone had called the coppers, and it was Kathy Swanson wanting to know what the hell was going on.

No use for it.  Ianto dug the phone out, and he answered it without bothering to check the caller I.D., so sure it was Kathy calling to bawl him out over the mess.  “Yes, I know what’s going on,” he snapped, putting his other hand awkwardly over his ear in order to hear.  “We’re on it now.”

_“Well, that’s not quite the greeting I was hoping for,”_ was the laughing reply.

Ianto grinned; he couldn’t help it.  “Suddenly, in a tacky nightclub during a Weevil hunt, I hear the voice of a Nightingale.”

He hadn’t spoken to Martha Jones in a little over two months, so busy she’d been with her new job with UNIT and her new boyfriend, Tom Milligan.  Patrick had talked to Tish, though – and there were times when Ianto had wished those two had never met, just for his own peace of mind – and she’d kept them updated on just what Martha had been up to.

Patrick had learned very quickly that gossip was the food and drink for the Torchwood team.

_“That sounds like something Jack would say,”_ Martha teased.  _“And yeah, I can tell you’re in some sort of a club, Dragon.  The bass line is really offensive.”_

“Can I call you back?” he asked, seeing that Patrick had managed to get the Weevil outside.

_“I’ll just call Jack, and let you get back to your Weevil hunt,”_ she answered.  _“Unless Jack’s with you?”_ She sounded positively lascivious.

Ianto snorted.  “No, he’s back at the Hub. Sometimes a Weevil hunt is just that…and you’ve been paying attention to Owen too much.  Thanks, Martha.”

_“No problem.  Talk to you later.  Love you.”_

“Love you too.”  He closed his phone as he stepped back out into the alley, closing the door behind him.  “Patrick?” he called, tapping his comm on.

_“Down toward the bay,”_ his teammate answered.

Ianto took off in that direction, past the line that was waiting to get into the club and getting several strange looks, which he simply shrugged off.  His shoes clicked against the pavement as he ran, wanting to catch up to Patrick before anything happened.

They weren’t that far from the bay, and it was only seconds before he caught sight of Patrick.  The American was standing by the railing, staring down into the water below.  As Ianto stopped beside him, he looked up.  “Can Weevils swim?”

Ianto opened his mouth to answer, and then realised he didn’t have the answer to that.  “No idea,” he admitted.  “Did you push it in?”

Patrick rolled his eyes, his irritation evident under the sodium lamps that were spaced out along this section of the quay.  “The stupid thing just jumped.”

Ianto glanced down into the dark water.  “Well, I guess that’s one way to get a Weevil to stop running amuck.”  He wished they’d been able to catch it, but sometimes their luck was just that bad.

He clapped his hand on his friend’s shoulder.  “How about some coffee?”

“I’d actually jump into the bay for coffee,” Patrick admitted, turning away from where he’d lost the Weevil. 

“No need for that.  Let’s get back to the Hub.”  He began walking back in the direction of the Plass, Patrick matching his stride.  He was curious as to why Martha had been calling, and why she hadn’t wanted to wait for him to call her. 

Ianto had the feeling that something was definitely up.

 

**********

 

It didn't take them long to get back to the Hub. 

It was late enough that Deborah, Rhys, and Toshiko had already gone home, and Ianto dismissed Patrick even before they’d gotten back to the Plass. 

The American had grinned despite grumbling about the promise of coffee and then not getting any. He then headed out to find a cab; he’d finally passed his drivers’ test, but didn’t have a car and relied on other forms of transportation.  Rhys had taken to bringing him in, but leaving was another matter entirely.  Ianto would have taken him back to his flat himself, but the dragon had no idea how long he and Jack would be.  There was still that phone call from Martha, and Ianto was really wondering what had caused her to call so late and then not want to wait for a call back.

He took the invisible lift down, Myfanwy responding to the noise of the gears and poking her head out of her nest.  She clicked her beak in greeting and then pulled back into the cubby where she slept, and not for the first time Ianto thought just how unfair it was that the pteranodon was stuck within the Hub for most of the time.  She should be flying free, not trapped underground.

He stepped off the paving stone and onto the main floor of the Hub.  Glancing around, he saw that while the rest of the Hub was powered down, the light in Jack’s office was still on…just as he’d expected.  He made his way up, and through the glass of the wall he could see his mate sitting at his desk, writing something down. 

As if knowing he was being watched, Jack glanced up and met Ianto’s eyes.  Jack grinned, motioning him forward, and Ianto followed the direction gladly. 

Jack leaned back in his chair as Ianto approached, taking his usual place lounging with his hip propped against the desk, looking down at his mate and smiling softly.  He bumped Jack’s leg with his own, just because he could.

“A nightclub?” Jack asked, laughing.  “Really?”

“At least the Weevil hated the music just as much as we did,” Ianto responded.  “We won’t need to do much clean-up.  I think just a minor cover story will do to explain it.”

“That’s good.”

“So…what did Martha want?”

Jack sighed.  “You know she’s in Switzerland, right?”

Ianto nodded.  “UNIT is doing security for the activation of the Large Hadron Collider.  Apparently Tish told Patrick, who told Toshiko…who can’t decide whether she’s excited that Martha gets to be on the front line for science, or jealous for the exact same reason.”

“I knew there was a good reason we hired Patrick…his gossiping skills,” Jack chuckled, shaking his head.  “It absolutely had nothing to do with his knowledge of weaponry and security.”

“And he was the most taciturn of the interviewees…go figure.”  Ianto thought it was actually pretty funny.  Then he turned serious.  “I doubt Martha called just to brag about being at the Collider activation…”

“No, she didn’t.  Seems like there might be something going on at CERN that may be up our alley.”

Ianto frowned.  “That’s a bit out of our jurisdiction.  Not that I’m saying we shouldn’t help…”  The dragon would really do anything for Martha Jones.  She was a friend…more than that, she was a dragon-friend, with everything that entailed.  She’d also saved his life, back during the Year of the Toclafane, and he still owed her for that.  “If there’s something going on, why isn’t UNIT handling it?”

“It seems that Martha’s garnered a bit of bad press with the fast track she’s been on within UNIT,” Jack explained.  “She was put on the CERN team despite there being higher ranked officers ahead of her in line for the position, and that decision hasn’t been popular.  It doesn’t matter that she’s earned everything she’s been given, what with the Year and travelling with the Doctor and all…there are still people who don’t like that a civilian – and a young one at that – has managed to jumped several ranks in such a short time despite Colonel Mace’s backing.  When she went to her immediate superior out there, he completely dismissed her concerns.”

“And so she knew to come to us.”  Ianto was angry for his friend.  Martha was smart, and loyal, with a determination that the dragon hadn’t seen displayed in all that many ephemerals.  She’d survived the Toclafane and the Doctor’s shenanigans and who knew what else, and to Ianto that made her one of the best of the humans he’d ever met in his entire life.  “That’s not going to be a very popular decision if and when UNIT finds out about it.”

“Exactly, which is why Martha wants us to come in under the radar,” Jack answered.  “If there is something going on up at CERN, it could be world threatening just with the type of science they’re doing there.  Not that I think they’re gonna create a black hole or anything like that…” he shrugged.  “They’re on the very brink of discovery and I certainly wouldn’t want anything to endanger that.”

It was at times like these that Ianto was suddenly reminded that his mate did come from the future.  He might not know exactly what was going to occur, but Jack did have a certain insight that was invaluable.  “Just what gave Martha the impression anything might happen?”  Ianto knew that Martha didn’t usually jump to conclusions.

“A friend of hers works for CERN,” Jack explained.  “When Martha got there, this friend told her that people were vanishing.  Then, yesterday…she vanished as well.  When Martha tried to get UNIT to do a search of the compound, they flatly refused.  She was told that anyone was able to quit and leave whenever they want to, and that it wasn’t in UNIT’s purview to look for employees that had decided to move on.”

“Martha’s not given to flights of fancy.”

“No, she isn’t,” Jack agreed.  “Which is why I’m agreeing with her.  I think we should investigate.”

Ianto had known that Jack would say that.  Martha was important to both of them and neither would dismiss her concerns. 

“I told her I was going to send her help.  It’s going to be you, Toshiko, and Patrick,” his mate went on.  “I can’t, in good conscience, leave Cardiff completely undefended.”

“I agree with you,” Ianto said.  That would leave Jack with Owen as the experienced member of the team, but Rhys was catching on to a lot of the mainframe and computer protocols as well as the logistical nightmare that was keeping the Hub supplied.  He and Deborah would be able to run operations if Jack and Owen were called out for any reason.  “Have you warned Martha that Patrick would be coming, so she wouldn’t react to his presence?”

Patrick didn’t want to know what had happened to him during that Year, and Ianto and Jack were perfectly willing to accept that.  But Martha had known Patrick as well, and if she wasn’t prepared…well, Ianto remembered how he’d reacted to seeing Patrick’s CV in the pile that had been sent in when they’d been hiring for Gwen’s old position.  In fact, if Ianto had had his way there wouldn’t have even been anyone else interviewing for the place on the team.  It had been Jack who’d insisted on speaking to the others, and he’d been correct to do so, but in the end they’d still hired the one person Ianto had wanted all along.

Not that Patrick knew any of this, and he never would unless he came to them and asked.  The senior members of the team respected his decision on not being told, even if it was difficult at times to abide by that.

“Yes, I told her,” Jack replied.  “She’s actually been wanting to see him ever since Tish said we’d hired him.”  He grinned.  “Apparently gossip goes both ways.”

“I’m sure it does.” Ianto and Jack both trusted Tish Jones implicitly so they’d made it clear that Patrick could share things with her that he couldn’t with Eoin Gwynn, his other friend outside of Torchwood. 

Ianto stood up, stretching.  “Let me go and make the flight reservations.  Did Martha say if there would be accommodations in Geneva?”

“Yes, she did.  You’ll be at the same hotel as the rest of the representatives attending the activation of the Collider.  She’s going to set everything up, including cover identities.”  There was a smirk on Jack’s face, and Ianto had a sudden sinking feeling about the co-called covers Martha was arranging.

“I’ll let you call Patrick and Toshiko and tell them about the case,” Ianto said. 

“I’ll do that.” His mate agreed. “Although I would’ve thought you’d like to have been the one to tell Toshiko that she’d be going to Switzerland.”

“I like to be able to hear,” the dragon answered, “and I have the feeling the high-pitched squealing would put my eardrum out.”

Jack laughed.  “Good thing I heal fast, then.”

Ianto leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Jack’s lips.  “Let me get the flight taken care of, and then we can get out of here.”

“And I shall do my duty and let Toshiko gush all over me.”

Jack grabbed his phone, and Ianto left the office in order to get things done before going home.  After all, he was about to leave for a couple of days.  He was going to show Jack just how much he was going to miss his mate and he wanted plenty of time to do it in.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this is so late! But there was a major crisis at work and Mom ended up back in the nursing home, this just had to take a backseat. I'm still not completely happy with this chapter, but I wanted to post something. Hope the next one won't be so long!

 

**_9 September 2008_ **

 

****

When Jack had called her last night and told her she and a small team were going to CERN to investigate something strange going on there, Toshiko had been so excited that she hadn’t been able to sleep until Kathy had finally taken her to bed and had thoroughly tired her out and had left her sweaty and sated and finally able to doze off for several hours. 

Still, Toshiko had practically bounced out of bed that morning, needing to arrive at the Hub early in order to get things done before leaving for the airport.  Kathy had simply rolled her eyes and had stayed in bed, since she had a couple more hours before she had to be up and out the door.  Her fiancée made Toshiko grin as Kathy pulled the sheet up over her head in an over-exaggerated show of trying to ignore her as she packed her suitcase, whining about how unnatural it was for someone to be happy about being awake that early in the day, let alone also anticipating a boring airline flight.

Her arrival at the Hub was greeted by a smiling Ianto holding a steaming mug; it was herbal tea, and Toshiko was grateful that it wasn’t caffeine.  She really didn’t need it; she was hyper enough already at the very thought of being able to be at CERN for the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider.  Particle physics wasn’t really in her skill set, but she knew this project would push forward the boundaries of science and would open entire new worlds of experimentation and knowledge that would echo across the years – and even decades – to come.  She desperately wanted to be on the ground floor of that sort of history.

Not that Torchwood wasn’t fulfilling to her.  Toshiko loved her job fiercely and would never leave – not even when her five-year contract was done in November – but there was something about being even peripherally involved in a project that would be written about in science texts that made her feel almost as giddy as she had been when Kathy had asked Toshiko to marry her. 

Well, to be fair, she was _still_ giddy over _that_.

They had scheduled to release their guest, the space whale, tomorrow, but Jack decided to move it to that morning so that she and Ianto and Patrick could be there.  They’d all fallen just a little for the creature; it was a peaceful soul, once it had come to realise that they weren’t going to hurt it, and while they couldn’t communicate all that well it reacted to them gently and was careful about how it moved around them on the abandoned dock where they’d managed to transport it to from that hell that had been the warehouse where it had been tortured.  It seemed to be particularly taken with Owen and Ianto: Owen, because he was the one helping it to heal; and Ianto, who was the one who came closest to being understood by it.  The two of them would sing together, and Toshiko had made certain there were plenty of recordings of their duets as their entwined voices echoed through the Hub, and she hoped to someday be able to translate the haunting songs using the program she’d been working on for nearly a year.

Seeing the whale accept its freedom was a beautiful thing.  There wasn’t a dry eye on the dock – even though Owen complained bitterly about getting all that splashed salt water in his face – as the alien slid slowly into the water after Jack had cranked open the door to the bay.  Ianto had serenaded its leaving, and they’d all watched as it vanished under the water.

Toshiko didn’t know if they’d ever see it again, but she wished it all the best.

After that, it had been a whirlwind of preparation for the three of them to be gone for the time it would take to investigate Martha’s claims. 

Toshiko had spent the morning with Rhys, showing him around the CCTV programs in order for him to be able to help coordinate if Jack and Owen happened to get called out.  This wasn’t something that she’d usually show someone who’d only been with them a little over a week, but Rhys seemed to get what she was showing him.  Already he was proving that Jack and Ianto had made the right decision in hiring him, and with both him and Patrick now in the team it was beginning to feel almost like they’d just adopted two new family members. 

She admitted to herself though that she was just a bit concerned about Martha meeting Patrick face-to-face.  Toshiko knew of the horrors of that Year, but Martha and Ianto had been in the thick of it while Toshiko had been safe in Ddraig Llyn.  They’d been the two who had dealt with the fallout of Saxon’s attack on the remnants of SHIELD, and had actually seen what had happened to Patrick and the Resistance cell that had grown up around SHIELD’s former Director, Nick Fury.  From what she’d been told it had been horrific, and Toshiko thought she knew Martha just well enough to wonder how she would react to seeing him after knowing how he’d died. 

Of course, Ianto had been fine, but the dragon was more inured to losing people than Martha was…not that it made it any easier on her friend, but Toshiko knew that Ianto could hide it better than most. 

Still, Toshiko trusted both Jack and Ianto and the decision they’d made about this mission.  The division of the team made the most sense, plus she really loved working with Ianto.  They’d always made a great team, and were more often than not paired up on missions.  Adding Patrick to the mix would be interesting, since she really hadn’t worked that much with him yet.  Ianto had, being the one who was doing more of the out of Hub training, and had mentioned that he was impressed with Patrick and his ability to cause all sorts of damage. 

In fact, Ianto had had to put his foot down about carrying personal explosives around, even if he didn’t object to the sheer amount of deadly weapons Patrick liked having on his person.  He really was like a walking arsenal, and Toshiko had to wonder just who had taught him where to hide all of it.   She was almost afraid to ask, since she did know just what sort of ‘professionals’ made up Patrick’s immediate family.

She was aware that Jack was planning on having the former FBI agent do all of the gun training from now on, once his training was complete, and Toshiko couldn’t say she was disappointed.  Sometimes Jack had a tendency to get out of control with the touching…at least he had with Gwen and to her and Owen to a smaller extent.  His training with Gwen though had bordered on the pornographic, and had given the former police officer the wrong impression when it had come to Jack’s feelings for her.

Thank the Great Dragons she was gone.  The team didn’t need that sort of divisive personality.

They made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare – even though Patrick was given a hassle going through security; he was still on his American passport, which made an allowance for a single firearm under his old FBI credentials.  Toshiko was dying to ask him how it felt to be without everything he usually carried, and she did once they’d all passed through and were on their way to their gate.

“You all have such a skewed idea of just what I like to have on hand,” Patrick groused.  “I’m not some sort of walking weapons locker, you know.”

Ianto snorted.  “You are aware that there are weapons’ scanners all over the Hub, right?”

“There was that one time,” Toshiko teased, “where it read you carrying four knives, three guns, a half dozen flash grenades –“

“Where did you even get all that?” Ianto asked.  “I know for a fact we don’t have any flash grenades on the Hub inventory.”

“And don’t forget about the explosives,” Toshiko added, laughing.  “Ianto actually confiscated several different types from you.”

“I can’t help it if I have relatives with high security clearances and access to deadly weapons,” Patrick answered primly. 

Now Ianto was laughing.  “You mean your parents send you care packages full of grenades and guns and such?”

“I thought parents were supposed to mail cookies and cakes?” Toshiko grinned.

“My mother is an excellent baker,” Patrick snarked back.  “I just don’t bring anything like that into the Hub because Owen would steal it.”

Toshiko joined Ianto in laughing; Patrick was so right about Owen and sweets.  Their doctor just couldn’t keep his hands away from baked goods, especially homemade ones.

“I really want to know which one of your family is misusing their security clearance to make sure you’re well supplied in items that cause mass amounts of damage,” Ianto said, seeming to get his laughter under control.

“No,” Patrick rebutted, “you really don’t.”

They had fun speculating about Patrick’s familial connections while they waited at the gate, and then moved on to other topics.  It was pleasant conversation, and Toshiko was enjoying herself very much.  She knew she loved spending time with Ianto, but Patrick was quickly becoming a favourite as well.  Being around him actually made it easier for her to put aside what she knew about his fate during that Year, surprising as that was.  It was as if they were becoming two different people in her mind, and she was grateful for it.  But then, she really hadn’t dealt all that much with the SHIELD resistance cell in what had once been New York. 

She wondered how Ianto felt about it, and promised herself that she’d ask once they had some time alone.  Toshiko felt a bit bad for not inquiring sooner.

They were calling seat assignments for boarding when Ianto turned to them and said quietly, “I should admit now that I despise flying on airplanes.”

Toshiko’s mouth dropped open, and she didn’t have to look at Patrick to know he was just as surprised as she was. 

Before she could ask, the overhead PA system announced their section, and the three of them stood and moved to the line that was forming to board.  Only Toshiko was carrying a bag onto the plane; there was no way she was packing away her precious laptop into her luggage. 

“I would’ve thought it would be relaxing not to have to fly yourself,” Patrick commented, just as quietly.  “And you’d have a distinct advantage if something should happen.”

Ianto shook his head.  “I wouldn’t have the room to transform inside the plane’s cabin, even if I didn’t have to worry about anyone accidentally getting hurt when I changed shape.  I would be as trapped as anyone else inside if there was a problem…unless the side of the cabin was torn open, and then I could escape.  But I wouldn’t be able to take many with me.  I would be worse than useless in any sort of emergency situation.”

Toshiko shivered slightly.  She could certainly understand why Ianto felt the way he did, now that he’d explained it.  He would be as helpless as the humans who would be sharing their flight if anything did happen.

“Well,” Patrick said, clapping the dragon on the shoulder, “we’re just gonna have to distract you from the flight then.  I bet Toshiko studied up on the Large Hardon Collider when she was supposed to have been sleeping last night.”

Toshiko nearly choked on his mispronunciation.  “It’s the Large _Hadron_ Collider, Delaware,” she corrected roughly, smacking him in the arm.  The attendant on the jet way gave her a funny look, but accepted her boarding pass and wished her a good day, which the tech expert returned.  “Ianto, he’s already been around Jack far too much if he’s coming up with that!”

Ianto’s face had gone slightly red, and she guessed it was from trying to stifle laughter than from embarrassment.  Their footsteps echoed down the sloping jet way as they began boarding.  “Tosh, Jack would have come up with something _worse_.”

 

**********

 

“Dragon!”

Toshiko turned in the direction of the voice, immediately recognising the happy tone.  Martha Jones was grinning like a maniac as she approached them at the luggage carousels, dodging through the crowds easily.  She was dressed in a pencil skirt and suit jacket, looking very professional even if her body language was communicating almost child-like excitement.

“Nightingale!”  Ianto exclaimed just as happily, moving to meet her. 

Toshiko followed, glad to see their friend even if it was under strange circumstances.  She watched as Martha practically launched herself into Ianto’s arms, both of them laughing as they embraced.  She couldn’t help but smile; those two had been through so much and had come out at the far end so much stronger because of it. 

Martha and Ianto broke apart, both of them still grinning.  Then the doctor turned to Toshiko, her smile just as bright.  “Cherry Blossom!” she greeted, pulling Toshiko into a slightly less frantic hug.  “Engaged life is really agreeing with you!  You look fabulous.”

Toshiko felt herself blush just a little; she still couldn’t believe that Kathy had asked her to marry her.  There was still that little bit of surprise left in her that made her question if it was really true.  “It’s so good to see you,” she answered.  She leaned back a little, letting a smirk grow.  “And just when are you and Tom going to make it official then?”

Martha rolled her eyes.  “He hasn’t asked me yet, but then it’s only been three months.  I’m sure he’ll get around to it eventually.”

So was Toshiko.  Tom was a good man, and she was honestly fond of him.  She was really hoping it would work out for them both, because both of them deserved to be happy. 

“Martha,” Ianto said, “I want to introduce our newest team member to you.”

Something flickered within Martha’s dark eyes, and Toshiko hoped only she’d seen it because she was still standing so close.  It was gone in an instant, and Martha was pulling away, aiming her bright smile toward Patrick, who was standing slightly separated from the three of them, looking just a bit uncertain.   “So, this is Patrick then?” she asked playfully, holding out her hand.  “Tish may have mentioned you a couple of times.”

And here Toshiko had been worried about how Martha would react to him.   She needn’t have.

Patrick accepted the hand, his own face developing a smile as well, although this one was somewhat less bright.  “Yeah, and I’m sure she’s lied about everything,” he answered, chuckling.

“Knowing my sister,” Martha replied, “she has.  Oh, and you have my permission to keep trying to set her up with Eoin.  It’s irritating her to no end and I’m enjoying laughing at her about it.”

That seemed to break whatever ice there had been between them, because Patrick outright beamed.  “Don’t worry; I plan to.  They’d make a lovely couple even if they won’t admit it.”

Ianto’s eyes widened.  “You’re trying to set up Tish and Eoin Gwynne?”

“How’s that going for you then?” Toshiko asked, as surprised as the dragon.  There hadn’t been any hint whatsoever that Patrick was trying to play matchmaker, and for the normally gregarious American that was some really good secret-keeping.

“Pretty crappy,” Patrick admitted cheerfully, “but I’m sure they’ll get it before it comes to the part where I knock their heads together.”

Martha snorted.  “Yeah, but Tish is stubborn so you might want to be prepared for violence.”  Then she grinned.  “C’mon; I have a car to take you all to the hotel where I have your reservations.”

It didn’t take long for them to retrieve their luggage and then go through customs – although it still would have been shorter if Patrick’s gun hadn’t been involved.   The customs agent hadn’t really wanted to let it through, but a short conversation between Ianto and the woman’s supervisor cleared the path for them to finally leave the airport and head out to the car park. 

Toshiko would have loved to have heard just what her friend had said to the man, but she’d just have to content herself with asking later.

The vehicle Martha had seconded was an older model minivan, and she slipped behind the wheel as the three Torchwood operatives climbed inside.  Ianto took the passenger seat after calling ‘shotgun’ on it, and it was all Toshiko could do not to roll her eyes at him.  Calling shotgun was a Torchwood tradition that was usually ignored, especially when it came from Owen.

“Okay,” Ianto said as Martha pulled out into traffic, “so what exactly is going on?  I got the story from Jack, but I’d really like to hear it from your own words.”

Martha nodded as she navigated the minivan toward the E62.  “This mate of mine, Julia Swales, works at CERN as a doctor and a few weeks ago she noticed that people were being taken ill with symptoms no one could really understand.  So, because no one here could do anything, the patients were sent to some sort of specialised hospital across the border in France.”

“Makes sense,” Patrick put in, leaning forward a little toward the front seat, blocking part of Toshiko’s view of Martha’s face.  She didn’t say anything; just sat back and listened to Martha speak.

“Yep,” Martha agreed.  “Problem is, when Julia contacted the hospital to check in on the workers, she found out they never arrived.  They’d vanished…all eleven of them.”

No, that didn’t sound good at all.  Toshiko wondered who would have wanted to make eleven sick people disappear.  Someone on the project, of course; but there was no reason why that she could come up with.    Something had to have been going on at CERN, and she could see why Martha would have wanted to look into it.

“No clue at all as to where they might have gone?”  Ianto asked.

“No,” Martha shook her head.  “Julia was worried, so as soon as I got here with the rest of the UNIT team, she told me about it.  I told my superiors…and I’m sure Jack told you how well that went.”

Now that made Toshiko angry.  Martha had more than earned her place in UNIT; no one had done more to save this planet than she had, during that Year.  It wasn’t her friend’s fault that most of the events of the Toclafane invasion were so highly secret that only a handful of people who hadn’t lived through it were aware that it had even occurred. 

“But now Julia’s vanished,” the dragon prompted.

“Yeah,” Martha sighed.  “And I can’t very well investigate on my own; I’m being watched by my commanding officer.  He’s just waiting for me to screw up so he can pack me back off to London with my tail between my legs and an “I told you so” letter to Colonel Mace.”

“We’re glad you called us,” Ianto answered.  “We’re family, and we help our own.”

It was true.  Toshiko knew that any one of them would have come to Martha’s aid, no matter the reason.  They’d all been through too much to ignore a member of their family when they called for help.

“Tomorrow is the perfect time to investigate,” Martha went on.  “The LHC is being turned on, and UNIT will be run off its feet, what with the dignitaries and the ambassador’s reception.  We should be able to stay out of their way while we poke around.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ianto agreed.  “Jack said you’d have covers for us?”

Patrick had leaned back just enough for Toshiko to catch Martha’s sheepish glance toward the dragon.  “You could say that…”

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

**_10 September 2008_ **

 

****

“Your passes please?” the guard at the security desk said, managing to look both polite and bored at the same time.  His French accent seemed to just add to the dichotomy.

“Here’s mine,” Martha said promptly, handing over a laminated card.  “And this is Mr Ianto Jones.  You should have him on your list.”

Ianto gave the guard his best bland smile.  He wasn’t sure he was all that successful, because he couldn’t make up his mind rather to be embarrassed or to laugh his arse off at his cover, because it was really quite ridiculous.

He wondered if Jack had known. 

Of course he had.  Ianto bet his mate and Martha had giggled over it, because no matter how many times Jack denied it, he did indeed giggle like a five year old who’d just used a Sharpie on a newly painted wall.

The guard typed at his computer.  “Mister Ianto Jones…” he mused, his slight accent causing the dragon’s name to sound like ‘Ee-ann-toe’.  Then he glanced up.  “The Ambassador from Wales?”

“Oh, hello,” Ianto blurted before getting himself back under control.  “Yes, that’s me.” He had no idea why Martha had made him some sort of ambassador, especially since there wasn’t technically a Welsh Ambassador; Wales was a part of Great Britain, so anyone sent over for the reception would have represented both England and Wales.

And yes, that was a sore spot for a _Welsh_ dragon.

Martha’s eyes were sparkling in glee, and it was just so obvious that she was getting a kick out of his embarrassment.  “And this is wife, Dr Toshiko Sato-Jones.”

Ianto looped his arm through Toshiko’s, feeling how close she was to laughing from the slight tremor in her body against his.  “I can’t wait to see the Collider switched on,” she said somewhat breathlessly.  Ianto figured her excitement for being onsite during the ceremony was adding to her performance, also usefully covering up her amusement. 

“This is Mr Jones’ personal assistant,” Martha went on, “Patrick Delaware.”

 “Yeah, if _personal_ _assistant_ was a euphemism for fully-trained _weapons’_ _expert_.”

It was only Ianto’s better-than-human hearing that caught Patrick’s irritated mumbling. The American hadn’t been at all happy about his created cover, and had only been slightly placated when he’d been allowed to carry his gun.  Ianto sometimes wondered if Patrick’s obsession with deadly weapons was completely unhealthy and that the team needed to hold some sort of intervention before the former agent blew himself up or something equally insane.

“ _Monsieur_ and _Madame_ ,” the guard said, looking slightly bemused while handing over three laminated cards the same as Martha had, “here are your passes.”

“Thank you,” Ianto answered smoothly, taking the cards and passing one each to Toshiko and Patrick.  Then he smiled down at his “wife”.  “Darling, shall we go in?”

Toshiko looked as if she was choking on something, but managed to say, “Darling, it would be a pleasure.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Patrick muttered, managing to sound like a mulish teenager and not the adult he was supposed to be.

“Wait,” Martha called out, slipping a file folder from the guard’s desk.  She handed it to Ianto.  “Here’s the entry pack,” she explained.  “It’s got a map, an itinerary and such.  We’d really hate for you to get lost.”

Ianto, of course, accepted it for the real reason Martha was giving it to him: so they could snoop around to their hearts’ content once they could get away from the opening speeches and not end up somewhere they wouldn’t want to be.  It would certainly make it easier to find what they were looking for…even if they didn’t quite know what that was as yet.

“With these maps you are really spoiling us,” the dragon gushed, prompting another telegraphed yet stifled laugh from Toshiko and yet more grumbling from Patrick, this time something about “ham actors”.

Ianto rolled his eyes good-naturedly as the quartet made their way past the security desk and into the main auditorium area of CERN.  The room was large, with stadium seating arcing gracefully up two of the rounded walls, and a small stage and podium set up in front of a third wall.  At the moment no one was standing there, and Ianto knew it wouldn’t be long before the first speeches would be made, which would be their cue to go snooping.

Until then, the guests that had come to the ceremony were milling around in front of the stage area, or were taking advantage of what looked like a well-stocked buffet near the last of the walls.  Several servers were helping those at the buffet, furnishing drinks and keeping the snack trays full.  There were perhaps about a hundred people there already, and Ianto wasn’t surprised that nearly half of those present had some form of bodyguard with them.  There was another nearly inaudible mumble from Patrick, and the dragon really didn’t need to have heard the actual words to understand what his teammate was saying. 

Ianto had to agree; there really wasn’t any reason why Patrick couldn’t have been some sort of personal security instead of an assistant, but his reaction had still been funny when Martha had revealed their covers. 

And, maybe he understood it, just a little, coming from Martha, knowing what he knew.  There just wasn’t any way for him to make this any better without explaining Patrick’s role in the Resistance.

Instead, Ianto began looking about, noting the large lithographs on the walls, showing various pieces of machinery that were obvious in use there in the labs that were buried deep underground.  Toshiko had practically composed odes to CERN on their plane ride over, and Ianto felt he could almost identify a lot of what he was seeing.  Certainly he could recognise what had to be Atlas, the largest of the particle accelerators; it resembled a large jet engine that dwarfed everything else in its photograph.

“I’ll be right back,” Martha murmured, sounding resigned.  Ianto glanced around her and noticed a UNIT Major making broad hand signals in their direction, obviously calling Martha over to the mixed group of soldiers and scientists that were huddled near the snacks table.  The man didn’t look happy, and it was all Ianto could do not to go over and tell him a few things about his Nightingale.

Something must have shown in his face, because Martha snorted, “Don’t do anything you’re gonna regret, Dragon.”

“I wouldn’t regret it at all,” he growled.  The major’s hand gestures were getting borderline obscene.

“Keep to your cover,” she replied.  “I can handle it.”

The dragon took a deep breath.  Of course she could handle one blowhard of an UNIT major…she’d handled Toclafane and other horrors and had come out on top.  “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” she gave him a smile.  She patted him on the arm, and then headed over to her group, her head held up high.

“You don’t mess with Martha Jones,” Toshiko said, smiling. 

“This is so true,” Ianto agreed.  He tucked his friend’s arm through his.  “Shall we explore the nibbles, darling?”

Toshiko giggled.  “Of course, darling.”

“I am so telling Kathy and Jack just how sappy you’re both being,” Patrick threatened.  It was a hollow threat, and both Ianto and Toshiko knew it, but it was still funny. 

“Come on, I’ll get you a drink,” the dragon offered, laughing.  “And don’t think Kathy doesn’t already realise we’re ridiculous, because our dear detective inspector is a smart woman and can sense these things.”

“It’s her superpower,” Toshiko agreed.

“And I was never sappy until Jack came along,” Ianto added.

“While I didn’t know you before you met Jack,” the technician rebutted, “I’m content to call bullshit on that comment, Ianto.”

Patrick snorted but didn’t say anything, but it was obvious he was agreeing with Toshiko.  Not that Ianto minded; she was totally correct in her assertion but he wasn’t about to admit it.

Together, the three teammates made their way over to the buffet, passing Martha on the way.  While Ianto and Toshiko walked past, ignoring what was going on, Patrick stopped just behind Martha, leaning over and saying something to her.  Ianto didn’t see how she reacted, because he quickly had his back to the group, but the laughter that echoed up spoke volumes.

Patrick rejoined them quickly, looking very smug indeed.

“What did you say?” Toshiko asked, accepting a Champaign flute from one of the waiters.

“Who, me?” the American asked, managing to keep the innocent expression on his face from slipping.  “I just commented that the Ambassador of Wales appreciated Dr Jones’ company and that, if the major could keep his rude hand gestures to a minimum he might avoid a diplomatic incident.”

“You did not!” Ianto exclaimed. 

Patrick shrugged.  “Someone had to put the ass in his place.  I might not know Martha, but no one deserves to have that sort of shit pulled on them.  If she wasn’t a competent UNIT officer, then why is she even here?  And while I’m quite sure she really can take care of herself, sometimes you just need a little back-up.”

“You are a marvel, Delaware,” Toshiko grinned, shaking her head.

“I’ll remember to tell my mother you said that the next time she calls!”

“I can tell her if you want.”

The man who spoke nearly made Patrick jump out of his skin, and only the friendly arm that dropped onto the American’s shoulders most likely kept him from instinctively drawing his gun. 

Ianto examined their visitor.  He was a little taller than Patrick, and the ubiquitous black suit he wore did nothing to hide the breadth of his shoulders; the fabric looked like it was about to rebel from the stretching it was doing over those biceps.  If the dragon had to guess, he would have put the man’s age at around the mid-thirties.  His close-cropped hair was a shade somewhere between dark blond and light brown, and his eyes were sharp and pale.  He wasn’t what Ianto would have called traditionally handsome, but the dragon certainly found his features interesting to look at.

The man was examining Ianto as closely as Ianto was him, and honestly the dragon liked what he saw.  He was obviously some sort of bodyguard, and Ianto was willing to bet he was from one of the alphabet agencies. If he knew Patrick that well to come up behind him and risk injury – because the former FBI agent wasn’t afraid to hurt people who snuck up on him like that, which Owen had learned first-hand – then Ianto figured this new American was either FBI, CIA, or SHIELD, based on his teammate’s family history.

Patrick let out a put-upon sigh, but the sparkle in his eyes belied any irritation he was telegraphing.  “Like Mom would believe you, Barton.  She still remembers the incident with Uncle Phil’s birthday cake.”

The man – Barton – clapped his free hand on his chest.  “Oh, you wound me,” he answered melodramatically.  Then he laughed.  “I’m surprised to see you here, kid.  I thought you were in Cardiff doing special ops.”

Ianto mentally made a note of that, even thought he’d known for a fact that Patrick hadn’t shared much with friends and family about what he did, due to the passive surveillance they had on him, as they did with all new hires.  But then, there wasn’t anyone on the team more aware of security protocols than Patrick Everett Delaware…even if he was the biggest damned gossip in the Hub.

“And I thought you’d be off to wherever my uncle would send you,” Patrick shot back, grinning, “instead of being here.  What are you doing…babysitting duty?”

He worked for SHIELD then, and more specifically he worked for Phillip J. Coulson. 

The name, _Barton_ , was somewhat familiar, but Ianto didn’t think he’d ever met the man.  If he’d been with the SHIELD Resistance during that Year…oh, yes, the dragon did recall hearing someone mention the name Barton.  He’d been undercover in one of the rocket facilities near what had once been Niagara Falls, and hadn’t put in an appearance during the time that he and Martha had been with the Resistance. However, he’d been mentioned several times, enough for Ianto to make a preliminary judgment.

Ianto knew things about Clint Barton that Patrick didn’t know he did, and there was no way he could say a thing to him about it without having to explain just how he’d gotten his information.

Still, it was good to put a face to the name.  It was yet one more person his path had crossed before and after the paradox has been broken – at least, peripherally – and the dragon was certain Toshiko would be adding Barton to the list of persons from that Year that she was keeping…not that he was supposed to know about that, of course.  Toshiko had an entire spreadsheet password protected on her laptop of persons of note from the paradox, listing what they’d done and what they were doing now that the Toclafane had been defeated.  It was her way of keeping up with them all; her way of coping with some of the horrors they’d had to deal with. 

Of proving to herself that the paradox was, indeed, over.

They all had coping mechanisms.  For Toshiko, it was her list.  For Owen, it was his weekly online chats with Diane, which showed him that she was all right, and his calls to Tom Milligan, his old partner from those days.  For both Jack and Ianto himself, their closeness was what kept the nightmares at bay. 

There were times when the dragon envied Patrick his innocence.  He was very glad that their newest friend hadn’t wanted to know what he’d had to do during that Year, even if he was sometimes tempted to break that silence for purely selfish reasons.

Barton shrugged.  “There were enough high-level SHIELD scientists wanting to be here for the switch flipping that security needed to be equally high-ranking, so here I am.  And what brings you here?”

Patrick grimaced.  “The lowest man on the totem pole gets the milk runs.”  He turned slightly under the weight of Barton’s arm.  “May I present to you the Ambassador from Wales, Mr Ianto Jones, and his lovely wife, Toshiko?  She’s the scientist in this party, and from her I learned all I ever wanted to know about the LHC and the work they’re doing here.  Mister and Dr Jones, this is Agent Clint Barton.  He works for SHIELD.”

So, Patrick was going for the cover.  This meant that Barton didn’t have the security clearance to know about Torchwood.  If Ianto recalled correctly, that most likely meant that this agent was Level Six or below in the SHIELD hierarchy.  Having spoken to Agent Coulson on a couple of different occasions that had nothing to do with the world ending, Ianto had gotten a pretty good handle on just how the security structure of SHIELD worked.

However, from their interaction, it was obvious that Patrick and Barton knew each other outside of their various jobs.  Mentioning “Uncle Phil” and Barton making the comment about Patrick’s mother confirmed for the dragon that Patrick was closer to Barton than just having met him through Phil Coulson.  It was nice to know that his knowledge hadn’t been completely negated by the turning back of that paradox year.

One of Barton’s eyebrows went up.  “I’m not sure I’d call escorting an ambassador a milk run.”  He straightened, dropping the arm that had been around Patrick’s shoulders.  He held out a hand, which Ianto shook.  There were some interesting callouses that the dragon hadn’t felt in a human palm in perhaps centuries, and automatically equated them with _archers_.  “Nice to meet you,” the agent greeted.  “If I’d known I’d be barging into an ambassadorial party…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ianto reassured him, “I’m relatively new to this whole ambassador thing.”  _By about fifteen hours,_ he didn’t add.  “Toshiko is the one who’s really interested in this sort of thing.  I’m only here as her arm candy.”

Barton’s eyebrows went up, and before he could say anything – and for some reason Ianto had the notion that it would have ranked up there with some of Jack’s more innuendo-laden comments, Martha’s voice piped up, “Sorry about that.”  Ianto turned and smiled gratefully as she slid in beside him, her eyes giving their guest the onceover.  “I’m Dr Martha Jones –“

“With UNIT,” Barton supplied.  He offered his hand to her, grinning.  “It’s hard to miss the only gorgeous person on that particular team, and I have the best eyesight in the room.”

Martha gave him a serene smile.  “I’ll be sure to tell my boyfriend you said that.”

Barton sighed overdramatically.  “All the beautiful people are already taken.  It’s a damned shame.”

“This is Agent Clint Barton,” Patrick introduced.   “He’s with the SHIELD contingent.”  He didn’t add anything else, and from the flicker in Martha’s eyes she’d recognised the name right off. 

“I thought I noticed you hanging around their science team,” Martha replied.  “I was really impressed with Drs Fitz and Simmons when I spoke to them yesterday.  They’re very…”

“Young?” Barton asked, teasing.

“I was going to say enthusiastic,” Martha chuckled.  “But young works.”

Ianto turned toward the SHIELD contingent, noticing immediately the two _children_ talking animatedly to another, older scientist.  “Prodigies, I take it?”

“Oh yeah,” Barton said.  He sounded fond.  “Youngest to ever graduate from Sci-Tech.  We call them FitzSimmons because they’re inseparable.  And telepathically linked, even though they deny it.”

“They also have technobabble down to a fine art,” Martha added, making Barton laugh. 

“That they do,” he agreed.  Then he sighed.  “I should be getting back to my own party before all hell breaks loose.”

Ianto raised a single eyebrow.  “Do you anticipate that happening, Agent Barton?”  He wondered if rumours of the disappearances had gotten around to the other groups.

“I anticipate any sort of situation to go to shit at any time, pardon my language,” the man replied, smirking.  “Why should this be any different?”

The dragon had to admit he had a point.

“Just had to come over and say hello to Patrick,” Barton went on.  “Of course I should have known I would be busting into a conversation with an ambassador, because that’s the way I roll.”  He offered his hand once more.  “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr Jones.”

Ianto gave him a genuine smile.  “You as well, Agent Barton.  And it was no interruption, really.  Any friend of Patrick’s and all that.”

“Thanks for that, because I would have hated to have caused a diplomatic incident.”

“Not at all.  And please inform Patrick’s mother that he’s been doing a fine job and that she should be proud.”

The slight blush on Patrick’s face at the comment was well worth it.

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's nothing in canon to say what Toshiko studied while at University, so what I came up is from my own imagination and from what we've seen her do onscreen. 
> 
> Also, on her publishing name..."Sakura" means cherry blossom, and "Ryuu" means dragon spirit. I thought it was appropriate for her. *grins*

 

**_10 September 2008_ **

 

****

Martha managed to get her friends smuggled out of the auditorium just as the speeches began.

She’d never been so glad to see Ianto and Toshiko when they’d arrived at the airport.  They were her friends but, no offence to Toshiko it was Ianto she’d really been happy to know had come.  There were perhaps a handful of people she’d trust with her life, and Ianto Jones – her Dragon – was at the very top of that list.  Even the Doctor didn’t rank as highly, but she wasn’t ashamed to admit it had been different before the Time Lord had forgiven the Master for what he’d done during that Year, when it hadn’t been his place to do so. 

She wasn’t at all upset that Ianto had killed the Master.  What that made her, she didn’t know…but she didn’t much care. After what that bastard had done to Jack and her family and the entire planet he deserved whatever he’d got.

So, having Ianto at her side in this comforted Martha, knowing that her friend and protector would do anything in his power to help her find Julia.

As for Patrick’s presence…          

Jack had warned her, of course.  And Martha felt she’d handled herself quite well under the circumstances.  But her first sight of him at the airport had triggered the memory of how she’d first seen him during that Year, looking innocuous yet deadly in the lair of one of the petty warlords that had sprung up under the Master’s rule…

He’d blown his cover order to save her.  He could very easily have been killed in that escape, but he’d done it anyway, knowing she needed to be free.  She could still see him, bleeding, as Ianto had carried him from the ruins of the warlord’s mansion…

But Patrick was alive, and there, and Martha couldn’t help but be glad that he’d found his way to Torchwood.  When Tish had told her that Jack and Ianto had hired him, Martha had rejoiced.  He was a good man, and even though that Year didn’t exist any longer he was still family to her.

Still, a part of her wished that he’d been told about what had occurred during the year of the paradox.  She would have given anything to thank him, for saving her and for helping her and Ianto get across the wilderness that New York State had become to the SHIELD resistance cell that had come together in what had once been the city of New York…renamed by the Master as New Saxon.  There’d been a price on Nick Fury’s head that would have given even the most sincere resistance member pause, but not a one of those who followed the former SHIELD director would have considered selling him out to the Master.  They’d all been so very loyal…Martha didn’t know what had happened to all of them after she and Ianto had been escorted to Captain Dalton’s ship, but it couldn’t have been pretty if the Master had managed to trace the pair of them to the cell’s headquarters. 

She hadn’t been able to help herself when coming up with a cover for Patrick.  Martha had first seen him as the scarily competent personal assistant to that warlord, and so she’d given him that cover once more.  She’d been entertained by his disgruntlement over it, knowing what she knew, and was pleased that Ianto seemed to find his reaction funny as well.  Toshiko had too, even though she hadn’t seen Patrick as he’d been, looking out of place in the opulent mansion that the warlord had taken over in his plain black suit and frighteningly bland smile. 

Nor had Toshiko seen Patrick kill the warlord with his bare hands when he’d attempted to hurt Martha.

See, Martha figured the Doctor could afford to be magnanimous toward the Master in defeat, simply because he hadn’t seen what she had.  The sheer barbarism the Earth had fallen into when the paradox had been in full effect was something he hadn’t had to experience.  And Martha knew it wasn’t just what the Master had done to cause humans to fall into darkness, although he’d certainly given the bad guys the opportunity to ooze out of the woodwork like bloated termites. 

No, it was the innocent ones that had suffered that made Martha disagree with what the Doctor had done.  She’d believed in him; that had been the point of her walking the world, telling people the story of the Time Lord, to get them to all think of the Doctor in that single moment before the rockets were launched into space.  Martha had believed that the Doctor fought for the Earth, that he would set things right, and that, in the end, justice would be done.

Well, she’d been a bit wrong about that, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

Anyone who would ask – and there weren’t that many – Martha would explain that she’d stayed on Earth to help her family after what the Master had done to her.  That was the truth, to a really large extent, but she’d also found it nearly impossible to travel with the Doctor any longer.  She’d learned a lot from him, and would forever be grateful for the time she’d spent in the TARDIS; however, between her crush on him and how he’d acted after the Master’s downfall, she just couldn’t do it any longer. 

And so, she was working for UNIT.  It might have seemed a good idea at the time, but Martha was getting a bit tired of having people think she didn’t know what she was doing.  She was really wishing she’d convinced either Jack or Ianto to let her come to work at Torchwood…although it would have meant leaving her family to cope on their own. 

Although, if Colonel Mace was going to make her travel then she might as well have gone to live in Cardiff…

Together, the four of them made their way down the corridor outside the auditorium, Martha in the lead.  Ianto walked beside her, and she turned to regard him.  “You should know…there’s been another victim.”

“When?” Ianto asked.

“This morning.  From what I’ve found out, he was working in the tunnel when…something happened.”  Martha shivered slightly.  “His radio was on.  The control room could hear him screaming.”

“What’s his name?” Patrick asked from just behind her shoulder.

“Leon Foiret.”  She was grateful that he’d asked.  “He’s a technician.”

“We’ll find out what’s going on,” Ianto promised, his hand resting on her elbow.  She was comforted by the warmth of his touch through her sleeve.

Martha had no doubt of that.

The lift was at the end of the corridor.  Martha ran her security pass over the reader, and the red light changed to green.  The lift doors slid open, and she ushered her friends inside.

There was actual lift music.  Martha had laughed when she’d first heard it.

“How far down does this go?” Patrick inquired.

“About a hundred meters altogether,” she answered. 

“We’re going to take this in two teams,” Ianto said.  “Martha, you and I will go and see _Monsieur_ Fioret.    Toshiko, I want you and Patrick to find a computer and run a list of the missing people, and find out what they were doing when they came down with whatever it was they were exposed to before they vanished.”

They all nodded in acknowledgement of the dragon’s orders.

“I knew we’d be underground,” Toshiko added, “so I brought along some handheld comms since our usual ones won’t work down here. Patrick, if you don’t mind?”

The American smirked, raising his arms up as if he was carrying something.  Toshiko slipped the trap of the bag she’d been carrying over her head, setting it into the cradle formed by his forearms.

Of course Martha had noticed the satchel.  It resembled a laptop carrying case, in black leather, with a zipper that went around three sides.  She’d been prepared to say something if any of the security guards had requested to search it; this was one of the reasons she’d made Ianto an ambassador, knowing that at least Toshiko would be bringing equipment with her and that they could have used diplomatic privilege to carry inside anything they might need.

Luckily for them, it had worked, and Martha hadn’t had to pull any tricks to stop any sort of search.

Toshiko opened the satchel, revealing its contents.  Inside were four devices, resembling mobiles only without any numbers on their faces, and a bulky thing with a large screen and two handgrips on it.

Ianto must have seen Martha’s curiosity, for he said, “That’s a Bekaran deep tissue scanner.  We took the gamble that there might be another victim before we could figure things out and that we’d be able to get some sort of access before they vanished.”  He shrugged.  “It was a good chance, given that eleven people had fallen to whatever it is we’re dealing with.”

Martha shook her head.  “I figured you’d come prepared, but I didn’t know what you’d be bringing.  I’m amazed at what the Rift spits out.”

“This wasn’t the Rift,” Toshiko said, passing around the communications devices and re-zipping the case.  Ianto looped the strap over his own shoulder.  “I found that on eBay.”

“Our Tosh feels it makes good practice for her to hack eBay every once in a while,” Ianto said, smiling.  “Or when she finds a pair of shoes she likes.”

“Yeah,” Patrick replied.  “I found out that Jack and Ianto will look the other way for certain things.  As long as we don’t get caught, that is.”

“Which is why you’re currently in the doghouse because of the explosives,” Ianto teased. 

Patrick rolled his eyes.  “Yeah, yeah.  I got caught.  I get it.”

“Be more sneaky next time,” Toshiko added, grinning. 

“You should take lessons from Tosh,” the dragon suggested.  “We have yet to ‘catch’ her at anything.”

“And you’re supposed to come from a family full of spies!”

Martha laughed at their antics.  This was another reason she was so glad they were there: they made her feel like part of a family, the banter and the laughs welcome after all the crap she’d been putting up with being in UNIT.  Yes, she did have her own blood family, but there was something about the extended Torchwood family that made her feel light and happy.

The lift stopped with a soft ‘ding’ and the doors opened.  “This hallway leads to the control room,” Martha explained as they walked.  “This complex is like an enormous underground city, with labs and offices and living quarters for those staff that stay onsite.  Of course the Collider is also down here –“

She pushed open a pair of large double doors, ushering them into the room beyond.  The first time Martha had been in the Collider control room she’d been in awe; in a couple of ways it reminded her of the Doctor’s TARDIS, in that it seemed too big for its dimensions.  Along three of the walls were controls and computers, all dedicated to the running of the Large Hadron Collider.  The last wall was glassed in, looking down into the tunnels that had been dug from the bedrock and actually housed the collider itself.

The tunnel was the same basic size and shape of a London tube tunnel, only brightly lit and missing the crowds.  In the centre of the tunnel was the actual tube that was the collider; it was about two meters tall, and held in place in the middle of the tunnel by metal struts painted a brilliant blue.  Various controls were in positions along the tunnel walls, and as Martha watched she caught sight of two technicians walking along the collider tube, their white jumpsuits pristine in the near-sterile environment.

“It’s fantastic!” Toshiko gasped, moving to the glass and staring down into the collider tunnel.

“I’m glad you think so,” a voice answered. 

The woman how joined Toshiko at the glass was in her near sixties, her hair a sharp grey and done up in a severe bun at the nape of her neck.  She was dressed in an expensive skirt suit, over which hung a well fitted white lab coat.  Her features were alit as she seemed to eat up Toshiko’s amazement.

“Sorry for intruding,” Martha said, hiding her surprise that finding someone in the control room.  She’d been hoping everyone would have been distracted by the reception.

“No problem.  I was just checking the systems for the activation.  We wouldn’t want anything to go wrong, not in front of the dignitaries at any rate.”

“That’s it then?” Ianto asked.  “The Large Hadron Collider?” He sounded almost as much in awe are Toshiko was.

“That’s quite correct,” she replied.  “The tube is where the proton beams will be fired.”  She transferred her grin to Ianto.  “I’m Professor Katrina Johnson, head of the LHC Project.”

Martha darted forward, knowing that introductions should have been up to her; she’d just been knocked off her game for a second by the professor’s appearance.  “This is the Ambassador from Wales, Ianto Jones, and his wife Dr Sato-Jones.  And Patrick Delaware, the Ambassador’s personal assistant.”

At least Patrick didn’t grumble this time at being called an ‘assistant’.

“They were a bit late in arriving,” Martha went on, “and missed the earlier tour.”  It was the best she could come up with on short notice, although she really should have come up with something in case they ran into anyone.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Dr Johnson said warmly.  She shook Ianto’s hand, and then Toshiko’s.  Patrick simply nodded, not offering his hand, but the professor didn’t seem slighted in the least.  ‘Doctor Sato-Jones?  May I ask what your doctorate is in?”

Toshiko actually blushed a little.  “Engineering, with specialities in Electrical and Computers, as well as Engineering Physics and Micro-Mechanics.  I’ve recently begun a Temporal Physics course of study and hope to branch out into Quantum Mechanics at some point.”

Martha had never really asked what Toshiko’s fields of expertise were; she’d just known that she was a certified genius, and that she pretty much did every sort of technical work Torchwood called upon her to do. 

Ianto was looking at Toshiko with such pride.  “Toshiko is a genius,” he said simply, as if it were completely obvious that she was the smartest person in the room.

Surprisingly, Professor Johnson didn’t seem to take any sort of offense to Ianto’s silent insinuation.  “It seems our specialities overlap somewhat.  Why haven’t I read any of your papers?”

“Unfortunately, the nature of government work means I can’t publish like I’d wish,” Toshiko answered, sounding disappointed.  “However, I did manage to submit something recently to the _British Journal of Applied Sciences_ , and it’s due to be in their April, 2009 issue.  It’s a treatise on micro-engineering and the future of various forms of crystallography for use in computer applications, and it’s under my publishing alias, Dr Sakura Ryuu.”

Patrick cleared his throat. “Doctor, don’t forget your monograph, _Membrane Wet-Ware for Use in Learning Algorithms for Very Intelligent Systems_ ,” he murmured. 

Professor Johnson’s eyebrows went up.  “You mean you’re the one Tony Stark tried to sue for stealing his intellectual property?” She sounded positively gleeful.

Martha’s jaw dropped as Toshiko laughed.  “He was certain I’d somehow hacked into his systems and stole his ideas for his own artificial intelligence system.  It didn’t matter to him that my ideas were perhaps two iterations behind his own, personal, AI project.  Honestly, if I was going to take the time to hack into Stark Industries I would have taken the newest iteration available at the time.  Of course, once he realised I’d come up with the theories on my own he tried to hire me.”

“And you didn’t take him up on it?” Martha asked, shocked.  The moment they were done with this mission she was going to demand details! 

A shadow passed over Toshiko’s face.  “I had some…family issues at the time, and I wasn’t able to take him up on his offer.”  Then she smiled happily.  “But if I had, I’d never have met Ianto.  So it all turned out good in the end.”

“This has to be a very exciting day for you,” Ianto said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them all at Toshiko’s declaration.  There was something else shining in his eyes besides fierce pride, and Martha couldn’t quite identify it.

“Oh, it is!” Professor Johnson enthused.  “I’ve been working my entire professional life toward this moment!  Today we could unlock the secrets of dark matter.  What we’re about to do could change our understanding of the entire universe!”

“I really should be getting on with the tour,” Martha butted in, before the professor could get going on her speech about the boundaries of science once again.  She’d heard it at least three times in the last week, and it was getting to the point where Martha could quote large chunks of it.  “We want to be finished up before the actual ceremony.”

“Of course,” the professor exclaimed.  “I shan’t keep you.  I’ll see you at the activation.”

They all shook hands once more, and it was all Ianto could do not to drag Toshiko out of the control room.  It was obvious she didn’t want to leave, and Martha really couldn’t blame her.  This was what she did; all the tech stuff and discoveries and the reason Toshiko Sato would never leave Torchwood: the sheer joy of the science, of seeing the unknown up close and being on the cusp of the fantastic. 

Once outside though, Toshiko turned to Patrick.  “How on Earth did you know about that paper?” she asked, her eyes dancing with merriment.

The American laughed.  “It’s right in the Torchwood mainframe,” he chuckled.  “I do believe our mainframe is quite fond of you, and likes to show you off.  Although I had no idea that Tony Stark had accused you of theft over it.”

“He didn’t really, and although he did lead off with questioning me about how I’d gotten into this dedicated server he wasn’t serious,” Toshiko admitted, grinning.  “But those were the rumours that got around after the fact.  He did try to hire me, though.”

“Okay, team,” Ianto cut in, his voice serious once more, “we have work to do.  Martha, where’s the infirmary?”

“Just down here,” Martha pointed down the corridor.  “And any of the open offices should be fine to use to get into the computer system.”

“You have a list of the missing employees?” Toshiko inquired as they walked together, Patrick trying office doors along the way. 

Martha reached into her trouser pocket, pulling out the list she’d prepared the night before.  She handed it over.  “It should be interesting to see if they all have something in common.”

“I’m willing to bet they do,” Ianto said.  “There has to be something to link the disappearances, and it’ll be up to you to find it, Tosh.”

“Here we go,” Patrick called, pushing open a door to their right.  “This should do.”

“Be careful, you two,” Ianto warned.  “Call us on the comms if you find anything.”

“Will do, boss,” Patrick acknowledged.  He let Toshiko enter the office first, and then he followed, shutting the door behind him.  The lock engaged with an audible click.

“Come on,” the dragon said, resting his hand on the small of Martha’s back as they headed toward the infirmary.

Martha really did hope that Toshiko and Patrick would find something.  She was deathly worried about Julia, but she had confidence that, with Torchwood on the case, that they’d discover what was behind the disappearances.

She would have faith in her friends, because she knew they were the best.

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

**_10 September 2008_ **

****

 

Ianto followed Martha down the hall, toward a set of swinging double doors that looked almost out of place among the single office doors and the heavy-duty laboratory hatches that were all along the corridor. 

He hadn’t felt this comfortable in years.  The sense of the Earth surrounding him, the strength of stone and the coolness of soil permeated even the reinforced concrete and steel of the CERN installation.  Yes, his hoard room at the Hub was also underground, but not as far as this, plus he always had the rain-slick feeling of the Rift on his scales.  The atmosphere in this complex was clean, and new, and it felt almost like the dragon was coming home.

He wished he could revel in it, to change into his true form and let himself become one with the deep, living hum of the planet, but they didn’t have the time.  The mission had to come first; they had to locate Martha’s friend Julia, and try to figure out just what was behind the disappearances and the strange illness that seemed to strike down random innocents.  

He would have time later to enjoy his surroundings…or, even better, perhaps he and Jack could visit Ddraig Llyn at some point.  Ianto could sleep in his cave and let himself commune with the Earth and the Great Dragons for a little while. 

But for now, he accompanied Martha through the double doors leading into the infirmary, almost running into an older man as he was coming out.

The man had thinning, greying brown hair, and his posture was slightly stooped.  Still, he had a strong face and dark eyes, and he would have been considered handsome to most any human.  He wore a lab coat and carried a clipboard, which is clutched to his chest in surprise.

“Oh,” the man exclaimed, “hello, Martha.  I was wondering where you’d gotten to.”

Martha smiled, although to the dragon it looked forced.  “I’ve been roped into showing guests around, that’s all.”  She turned toward Ianto.  “Ambassador Jones, this is Dr Oliver Harrington, head of UNIT’s medical team…and my direct superior.”

Oh, so this was the man who had dismissed Martha’s concerns out of hand, and had generally made her unpopular with the UNIT contingent.  He wasn’t even using her title, which she’d earned in many more ways than just going to University.

Of course, Ianto shouldn’t know that.  So, he held out his hand to the man, putting polite interest into his voice.  “Nice to meet you,” he lied through his teeth.  He glanced around.  “Looks like you’ve some very impressive equipment.”  The interior of the infirmary was pristine, the surfaces gleaming and the medical devices running with a reassuring, background hum.

Doctor Harrington smiled.  “Well, we’re not exactly in an ordinary situation.  Cut off from the outside world in an underground base…”

_I know the feeling,_ Ianto did not say aloud.

“Oh, it’s quite an honour being here,” Dr Harrington went on, as if he thought his words were somehow condemning his position.  “There’s not many who can brag that they get to work alongside the world’s brightest minds.”

Somehow, Ianto wondered if the man wasn’t protesting too much.  There was something about him…something that the dragon couldn’t quite put his finger on.  It wasn’t quite anything dark, but more like a weight hanging over him, and it confused Ianto a little.  There was sadness as well, as if Dr Harrington was in mourning, and that was something he could certainly understand.

It didn’t make Ianto want to cut him any slack, though.  The ephemeral had hurt and denigrated one of his friends, and the dragon really didn’t want him to get away with that.  However, there really wasn’t anything he could do, and as Martha had said earlier; she could take care of herself. 

“Doctor Harrington,” he said, “when they turn on the LHC could there be side effects?  Could the health of the people working be affected?”  He knew the answer to the question, because Toshiko had explained, but he wanted to see the UNIT doctor’s reaction.  If there was some sort of cover-up going on, then Harrington could have some knowledge of it, being the UNIT Medical Officer, unless the doctor was just an idiot dismissing Martha’s concerns out of hand.  And the latest victim had been found in the tunnel, so in Ianto’s mind there could very well be a connection with the Large Hadron Collider itself.

Harrington blinked, and then shook his head.  “Oh no, not at all!  We’ve checked and double-checked everything, so no.  We’re not expecting any trouble at all today.”  He chuckled lightly.  “Today, you’re more likely to injure yourself slipping on a dropped canapé.”

Ianto returned the laugh with one of his own.  “Well, that’s certainly reassuring.”  He couldn’t make up his mind whether Harrington had been surprised by the question, or was actually hiding something.  He just couldn’t get a handle on the man.  Unlike Professor Johnson, who’d been an open book to him; her excitement in the science had overwhelmed even Toshiko’s.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the three of them, and then Harrington cleared his throat.  “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’m representing UNIT’s medical team so I really should be getting along to the ceremony.  I’m sure Dr Jones will take good care of you.”  He favoured Martha with a somewhat patronising smile, then bustled past, the doors behind them closing with an audible swoosh.

“Well, that was pleasant,” Ianto said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

“It could have been worse,” Martha answered.

He supposed it could have been.  “His eyes are sad,” he commented.

“His wife died last year.  Now all he does is work…and brush off any sort of problem that he doesn’t feel he can deal with.”  Martha sighed.  “Come on.  Let’s take a look at Mr Foiret.”

Martha led the way, turning toward another hallway lined with curtained cubicles.  Most of them, the curtains had been pulled back, and the revealed beds reminded Ianto of every other hospital A&E he’d been in, the equipment within them turned off and waiting for their next guest.

One though, at the far end of the row, had the curtain drawn, and Martha strode up to it and pulled it aside, revealing the motionless man lying on the uncomfortable, narrow bed.

Leon Foiret was a relatively nondescript person, with black hair and the pale complexion of someone who didn’t see the sun all that often.  He was lanky, and Ianto wondered if he was the sort of person who couldn’t stand still for long periods of time. 

Now, however, Foiret was completely unmoving, the noises of the machines monitoring his condition bleeping and whirring around him. 

“He’s in a deep coma,” Martha said, her voice hushed.  “He won’t respond to any sort of stimuli.  Well,” she shrugged, “nothing we’ve been able to do anyway.”

Ianto leaned closer to the nonresponsive form.  “I don’t see any visible wounds,” he murmured, pulling the blanket back to get a closer look.  There was an odd smell coming from Foiret; it was almost like ozone, only old and stale.  “Let’s try the scanner.”

He found a place to set the laptop case down on, unzipping it and pulling out the Bekaran deep tissue scanner.  Owen had taken him through how to work it, but Ianto wasn’t certain if the results would be sent to the Hub like they should be; there was simply too much earth and concrete between them and Torchwood’s mainframe.  So there wouldn’t be any chance of getting any sort of opinion from Owen, but then this was something they’d expected, and Martha definitely knew what she was doing.

Ianto thumbed the scanner on.  Instantly the screen lit up, and he ran the device over their victim.

Martha leaned over his shoulder.  “That is brilliant.  I’ve never seen an x-ray like that.”

“Owen’s been working on adapting it, with Toshiko’s help.  It’s been really useful.”

“I can’t believe Tosh found that on eBay.”

“You’d be surprised at the alien tech that shows up…what is this telling me?”

Martha frowned.  “These readings don’t make any sense.”

Before Ianto could ask her to elaborate, Leon Foiret began to glow.

It was just his skin, the golden illumination completely foreign to a human body.  “What the hell is that?”

“No idea…”  Martha leaned even closer.  “I can see right through his skin…”

Ianto swallowed heavily.  He wasn’t squeamish usually, but now… “This is truly disgusting.”

Martha hummed absently in agreement.  The glow seemed to settle, and the fluttering of Foiret’s internal organs through his now-transparent skin was almost hypnotic.  Ianto found himself unable to look away, even as he was aiming the scanner back toward their victim.

Suddenly, the body began to react, Foiret gasping for breath, lungs heaving under the glowing flesh.  Ianto reared back, and pulled the scanner away.

Martha, though, only leaned closer.  “Leon!  Leon, can you hear me?”

Foiret’s mouth opened as he panted for breath, his chest heaving.  His head moved slightly, to one side and then the other, and Ianto could actually see the dark irises of the man’s eyes as they moved under twitching lids.   He wondered if Foiret could see through them as Ianto could.

And from those parted lips, an eerie voice whispered, _“Your life is our life.”_

Ianto found himself glancing at Martha, who must have had the same idea because she was looking right back at him.  He was willing to bet their expressions of confusion and surprise was exactly the same. 

“What does that mean?” Martha demanded.

Ianto shrugged.  He had no clue, but it certainly sounded ominous.

Foiret began gasping harder, and that sign of distress had Martha moving.  “We’re gonna help you, Leon.  Just hold on.”

“Don’t,” Foiret gasped, in what had to have been his normal tone, “taken for…don’t listen…”

Martha returned to the bed with a syringe in her hand.  “Shh…I’m gonna give you something for the pain.”  She inserted the needle into a port in the man’s IV before Ianto could stop her.

Foiret settled in seconds, his body going lax.  The machines that had been alarming before fell back into their regular rhythms.  Martha sighed.  “He’s stable again.”

Ianto stifled his own sigh.  For those brief moments Foiret had been conscious, and he internally cursed the lost opportunity to question him.  However, he certainly couldn’t blame Martha for wanting to take care of a patient in pain.  She was a doctor, and he respected her for her compassion and her knowledge and he would never condemn her for anything she did to help others.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she murmured.

“Let’s try the scanner again,” Ianto suggested, bringing in the device back up from where his arm had fallen to his side.  “This has to be what happened to the other people who became sick.”

“I’d put good money on that,” Martha agreed.  “And I can see why someone would want those people to disappear.  I doubt poor Leon will be here much longer when whoever is behind all this finds out he’s glowing like some sort of bizarre night light.”

Ianto had to agree with her.  “He was in the collider tunnel when this happened.  Let’s see what Toshiko and Patrick dig up, but it seems logical that they would have been in the same area at least.”

He raised the scanner over Foiret’s body once more.  The screen began displaying results from the various scans it was running; not that Ianto understood a lot of what it was showing them.  Martha kept her eyes pinned on the readout, and he hoped it was telling her something.

“What the hell?” Patrick’s voice had Ianto raising his eyes from the Bekaran scanner’s screen.

Both he and Toshiko were standing there, looking at the glowing body with equal parts of amazement, shock, and horror. 

“I have to agree with Patrick,” Toshiko said softly, her eyes wide.

Ianto kept scanning for Martha’s benefit, but he addressed his teammates.  “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.  Did you two find anything?”

Toshiko tore her eyes away from Foiret’s glowing body.  “Yeah.  Everyone who fell sick and then disappeared were all working inside the collider tunnel at the time they were infected.”

“They go into the tunnel just fine,” Patrick added.  “And then they come out sick. But it looks to me like they actually light up like Christmas trees.”

Cool hands grabbed Ianto’s, stopping the movement of the scanner.  Ianto regarded Martha, who was practically glaring at the scanner screen as if it had just cursed at her or something equally vile.  “Look at his liver composition…”

The dragon did as she asked, but didn’t see what she did.  “What is it?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it…it’s like it’s losing its density…”  She held Ianto’s hands as she tracked the scanner back up Foiret’s torso.  “All his organs are fading.  It’s like he’s made of tissue paper or something.  He’s disintegrating…”

Ianto wanted to shiver, but restrained himself in order to keep the scanner steady.  He couldn’t even imagine it: the body slowly coming apart like soaked paper, losing its cohesion as its owner was unconscious of what was happening.  Or did Foiret know what was going on?  Could he feel it, the unravelling of his body, piece by agonising piece? 

‘I don’t believe it,” Martha gasped.

“What?” Ianto demanded, disturbed by her tone.  Something was very wrong for Martha to have sounded like that.

His friend leaned back, her eyes darting from Ianto, to Toshiko, and then to Patrick, shock evident in her expression.  "The human body is made up of atoms, right?”

Ianto nodded, as did their two teammates.

“And every atom is made up of protons and neutrons floating in a cloud of electrons.”  She shook her head as if to deny what she was about to say.  “That’s why he’s falling apart…his neutrons are missing.”

“But you can’t just lose your neutrons,” Toshiko argued.  “They’re a very basic part of you.”

“That’s what’s happening though…unless your fancy scanner isn’t working.”

“Let me see.”  Toshiko moved closer, holding out her hand for the device. 

Ianto obliged, passing it to her over the glowing body of Leon Foiret.  She began fiddling with it, which gave Ianto a chance to process just what Martha had said. 

It had to be something to do with the LHC.  That was the only explanation, since every victim had been in the tunnel when they’d been affected.  But how?  Was it something to do with the machine itself?  Or was there a piece of information they were missing?

Toshiko frowned.  “The scanner’s just fine; it’s working properly.”

“Then,” Ianto said, “somehow the victims of whatever they found in the tunnel is slowly pulling them apart.” 

“It has to be the machine,” Martha declared.  “Something’s gone wrong with it.”

“Maybe,” Patrick spoke up.  “Or maybe not.”

Every eye in the room was suddenly focused on him.  Apparently all that attention wasn’t bothering him in the least, because he simply shrugged.  “When Tosh and I were pulling files, we found out there was an injection test back in May.  It was only a few seconds, but the machine _was_ active.”

“Which makes sense,” Martha said, “because that’s when the illnesses started.”

“But there wasn’t anything before that,” Patrick went on.  “If it was the Collider, then why weren’t people sick before then?”

“Maybe it was a combination of things,” Martha mused. “And nothing happened until the system was switched on.”

“I suppose that’s possible,” Toshiko said, the words sounding as if they were being dragged out of her.  Ianto knew she really didn’t like admitting it was a machine fault without proof. 

Ianto was silent, trying to put together what they’d discovered.  The test in May had to have set off circumstances that had led to whatever was happening to these poor people.  But what that was… “What’s your theory, Patrick?”

“Well,” the American answered, “it _could_ be that the energy flux through the LHC messed something up.  But those parts had have gone through testing, right?  Before they were put together?”

“Yes, there would have been significant testing before the Collider was completed,” Toshiko said, nibbling on her thumbnail as she considered everything.  “The engineers wouldn’t have wanted to risk anything blowing up on them once the components were assembled.”

“Could this test thing…I don’t know…have opened up some sort of Rift like we have in Cardiff?  I know Tosh pretty much said no black holes, but…”

“You mean something could have come through during the test?”  Now Toshiko looked excited.  Ianto could practically see her thoughts racing.  “Well, yes…the test could have punched a microscopic hole through space-time…I’d have to check the records of the test to make sure, and I doubt anyone would let me if there was something strange going on…”

Ianto suddenly straightened in sudden understanding.  He leaned over Foiret’s motionless body, taking a deep sniff.  There it was…that old ozone smell, like a storm that had raged a long time ago, and the scent of it was simply left behind as a memory of the event. 

“That is gross,” Patrick muttered.

The dragon ignored him, concentrating on what his nose was telling him.  He very much doubted the others could smell what he was; the human scent sense simply wasn’t as strong.  It wasn’t the same as the Rift, and yet…it wasn’t normal.  “He smells,” was what Ianto finally said, taking a step away from the unconscious man.

Toshiko looked like she was stifling a laugh.  “Now, that’s not a nice thing to say about someone!”

Ianto snorted.  “I mean…he smells strange.”

Patrick got close and took a deep whiff.  “I don’t smell anything.”

“Well, last time I checked you weren’t a dragon,” Toshiko pointed out, smirking.  “Ianto’s nose is a lot more sensitive than yours.  It’s why Owen doesn’t wear cologne in the Hub anymore…it made Ianto sneeze.”

“I think we’re going to need to investigate this more before we decide what’s really going on,” Ianto concluded.  “Our victim doesn’t smell right, but then it could be something in the machine that contributed to it.”

“Does that mean we’re going into the tunnel, boss?” Patrick asked.

“It does.”

“We’re still no closer to finding the people who’s vanished,” Martha pointed out, frustrated.

“Someone had to have gotten those people away under base security’s nose,” Patrick replied.  “It’s twelve people…you can’t just cover that up unless you’re high up.”

“Someone in charge,” Toshiko nodded.

“Someone who knows the base inside and out,” Martha agreed.

Toshiko smiled.  “I know what I’d do: I’d find somewhere on the base where I could hide them all.  This place is huge.  You could hide anything here and no one would find it.”

“I think Tosh has a point,” Patrick said.  “Who has the map of this place?”

“I do.”  Ianto reached around and grabbed the folder, from where he’d put it inside the laptop case.  He handed it to Patrick, who rifled through the papers until he came up with the map of the entire facility.  The American laid it out on the empty bed next to where Foiret had been placed, smoothing it out with one hand.

“That might not do us much good,” Toshiko pointed out.  “I doubt they’d mark “glowing sick people” on a publicly available map.”

Patrick grimaced.  “Yeah, it wouldn’t be that easy.”

“Look, I can pull up the satellite images of this place easy enough,” the technician pointed out.  “All I’ll need to do is go back to that office with the computer.  Then we can compare this map with the image.  That might give us a clue.”

“Let’s do that then,” Ianto said.  “If you find something, then Martha can go and check it out.  Tosh, I think maybe you should have a talk with Professor Johnson about what’s going on; see if you can have the test postponed until we can figure things out.”

“While you and Patrick get to explore the tunnel,” Martha finished.

“While Patrick and I check out the tunnel,” Ianto agreed. 

“Sounds like fun,” Patrick snarked.  “I’m glad I wore my best suit for it.”

 

 

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be delayed a bit, I'm going to Florida for the next week. Hope this will tide you over. :)

 

**_10 September 2008_ **

****

 

“So,” Toshiko said, her fingers dancing over the computer’s keyboard like it was some sort of musical instrument…and maybe, to her, it was.  “How are you?”

They’d gone back to the office that Toshiko and Patrick had used in order to access the CERN computer system, Toshiko booting the system back up and settling herself comfortably in the chair behind the metal desk.  Martha had found herself standing by the door, playing lookout.  However, the place was practically deserted, all of the personnel being on hand for the switching on ceremony.

Martha was a bit surprised by the question, to be honest.  It didn’t exactly seem to apply to the mission they were currently on.  “I’m fine,” she answered, barely keeping the confusion out of her voice.  “Considering people are vanishing and might actually be glowing like mutant fireflies…”

The technician snorted.  “I suppose I deserved that.  No, I meant, how are you doing with Patrick?  You seem to be flipping between tense and relaxed around him, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay with him being here.”

Now that made a bit more sense.  Martha dragged one of the rolling chairs over to sit next to her friend as Toshiko worked to hack into some satellite or other.  She hesitated, considering her answer.

“Well,” she began, “I admit it was a bit of a shock seeing him in person.  I mean, I knew he was coming, and I knew he’d been hired for the team, but actually setting eyes on him again…” She sighed.  “You know, I never did find out what happened to him after Ianto and I left New Saxon.  He was the one to arrange our passage on Captain Dalton’s ship, you know?  Personally vouched for the captain, and escorted us to the rendezvous point.  It was like, he saved my life, so he wanted to make sure I stayed alive the entire time we were with the SHIELD resistance cell.” She grinned.  “I think it amused Ianto.”

“Were you in love with him?”

The air was knocked out of Martha’s lungs as if Toshiko had punched her in the chest with something heavy.  “No!” she finally gasped.  “Why would you even think that?”

Toshiko’s fingers paused, and the technician turned to face her.  “I’m only asking what Ianto was assuming.  Only he has enough tact not to ask.”

Martha was stunned.  She wanted to find out just why Ianto would have thought that she’d had any sort of romantic feelings toward Patrick.  She opened her mouth to reply, but reconsidered.  All right, maybe her behaviour during their time with the SHIELD resistance might have caused Ianto to believe that she might have fallen for Patrick, but that simply wasn’t the case…

“I admired him,” she admitted.  “Why wouldn’t I?  He completely discarded months of undercover work in that warlord’s gang in order to get me to safety.  Sure, Ianto was on his way to rescue me, and he would’ve burned that compound to the ground if that’s what it would’ve taken, but Patrick didn’t know that.  All he knew was that I was important, and that what I was doing superseded any orders he might’ve been given.  He did his best to save me, and almost died as a result.  So of course I’d feel _something_ for him.

“But, Tosh…” Martha shook her head.  “It certainly wasn’t ever love.  At that point I was still so hung up on the Doctor that I doubt I would have felt like that about anyone.  It wasn’t until the _Valiant_ that I realised the Doctor wasn’t what I wanted, and then Tom found me after the paradox was rolled back…so no, I can honestly say I don’t feel like that toward Patrick.”

Toshiko was smiling.  “I’m glad you said that.  Tom’s really good for you, you know?  I can’t tell you how happy Owen was when we all found out that you two were dating.  I’m not saying Patrick isn’t a good person, but Tom is much more…I don’t know, maybe compatible?  And he came through that Year almost intact, which is amazing.  Patrick…he doesn’t want to know what happened, and I can’t blame him, but I do know that Jack’s wanted to thank him so many times, and he can’t because he can’t explain it.  Tom knows what you both went through, and the two of you can talk about it when it gets too much to deal with.”

She went back to her hacking, or whatever it was she was doing, and Martha decided that turnabout was fair play and she’d ask a few personal questions of her own.  “So…have you and Kathy set a date yet?” 

There was a faint blush on Toshiko’s face, but she kept her eyes firmly on the computer screen.   “No, but we’re thinking sometime in the spring.  We do know we’d like to get married at Ddraig Llyn, and we fully expect you and Tom to be there.”  She paused for a second, then looked back at Martha.  “If fact, I’d like you to be one of my attendants.  I'd planned on asking you in about a month or so, and in the middle of a mission isn’t exactly the best time, but…”

Martha couldn’t help the squeal she let out, but then this was a special occasion even if they were currently trying to hack into a satellite.  “Of course!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Toshiko’s shoulders.  She gave her friend a fierce hug then settled back into her chair.  She could feel herself grinning like a maniac.  “Just so long as the attendant dresses aren’t hideous, that is.”

Toshiko shook her head fondly.  “I think I can promise that the dresses will be in good taste.  I don’t dare risk Ianto’s wrath over them.”

“Oh good lord, no,” Martha giggled.  “His disappointed look is worse than my Mum’s.”

The computer chimed, cutting off Toshiko’s own bout of laughter.  “We’re in,” she said, leaning slightly forward. 

“You are brilliant,” Martha congratulated, also leaning toward the computer.  Displayed on it was an overhead view of CERN, with the nearby town of Meyrin also visible to the south and east.  On the screen Martha could make out individual buildings on the grounds of the complex, and she took out the visitor’s map in order to compare the two views.

It took her a few minutes, but Martha was able to identify a small outbuilding on the satellite view that wasn’t on the map itself.  “Here,” she said, pointing toward the monitor toward the area to the west where the building seemed to be.  “This isn’t on the site plan.”

“Think you can find it?”

“No problem.”

“Good.”  Toshiko gave her a few seconds to memorise the satellite image, and then she shut down the computer.  “I managed to erase my tracks in the system, but it was a quick job and I can’t guarantee someone won’t find it eventually.”

“Then we should get this show on the road,” Martha said, standing.

“Be careful,” Toshiko warned.

“You, too.”

They headed out together, parting at the doors leading into the Collider control room.  Martha could hear voices within, and guessed that the activation would be happening shortly.  Her hand grasped the comm that she’d been given, wanting to call Ianto and Patrick to warn them, but she abstained.  The pair knew very well that the ceremony was almost over, and they all trusted Toshiko to do her best to get Professor Johnson to not push the on button.

Martha practically ran toward the lift, passing a couple of dignitaries lagging behind the main group already in the control room.  She didn’t spare them a glance as she stabbed the button to call the lift, and it opened at once, already on her floor.  Martha darted inside, pressing the up button several times in rapid succession before calling herself silly for doing it and stopping.

The lift started upward, and Martha fidgeted.  She really didn’t know what was going to be in that building she and Toshiko had found; it could be completely innocent, a storage shed or something equally innocuous. 

Or, it could be the solution to what was going on.

Her ears popped, signalling the lift getting closer to the surface.  Martha once again thought of the Torchwood team – her friends – and was so very grateful that they were there.  It had only taken them a short time to discover something going on, unlike her superiors who had dismissed her out of hand simply because she was young and didn’t have what they considered experience in the field.  It made her wonder what would have happened if she hadn’t called Jack; if she’d just kept quiet and let events happen.

No, she could never do that.   If there was one thing her travels with the Doctor had taught her, was that she would never again not get involved where she could help.  The moment Julia had contacted her Martha had been determined to find out just what was going on there at CERN, and the dismissals from Dr Harrington and the Major had stung.  A part of her had been feeling slighted when they’d both told her to basically mind her place, so she couldn’t help the vindictiveness that finding out something was indeed happening that washed over her.

But then, she and Ianto had met Dr Harrington in the medical bay on their way to examine Leon Foiret.  Had her supervisor known something else was going on besides people becoming ill? 

Martha considered that as she passed through the security checkpoint and out onto the grounds.  It was raining, and she took a second to curse herself for not stopping to get her coat as she began cutting across the wet grass in the direction of the outbuilding she knew was out there.  Certainly, Dr Harrington had the security clearance – being the highest-ranking UNIT medical officer on site – to move things he wouldn’t have wanted seen.  He’d been quick to dismiss her concerns, and had gone to the major in order to discredit her even further.  Could he be up to something?

But then, there was also Professor Johnson.  Martha had first-hand experience with scientists who were so into the research that they’d do anything to keep anyone from finding out something was wrong with their conclusions…Richard Lazarus came to mind immediately.  He’d paid the ultimate price for his hubris, but he’d also taken innocents with him, and that had almost included Martha’s sister, Tish.  In fact, it was now a running joke in the family to watch out for whoever was Tish’s boss, because they’d inevitably end up being evil and trying to take over the planet.

The Large Hadron Collider was Professor Johnson’s life’s work.  Could she be covering up something going on within the Collider itself because she couldn’t bear the idea that all of her hard work had been for naught?  Certainly people had done a lot worse for a lot less.  The professor could be disposing of those who’d been affected by something wrong with the mechanism…something that was tearing people apart by sucking up all of the neutrons in their bodies. 

Martha turned her thoughts toward the latest victim and his condition as she trudged through the compound, the rain dripping from her hair and inside the collar of her suit jacket, making her shiver in the cold.  Foiret was dying; there was no denying that.  Unless they could somehow replace the missing neutrons his body would slowly unravel, fading away. 

How many of the victims had this happened to already?   Would they find any of them alive?

Martha shivered, and it didn’t have anything to do with the rain.

_“Mar…c’n…hear?”_

She recognised Ianto’s voice even through the static on the comm she’d been given.  “I can hear you…barely,” she answered as she walked. 

_“H…going?”_

Of course she should have known that there was too much concrete and stone between the aboveground sections of CERN and its underground complex for the comms to get a decent signal.  In fact, she’d have been willing to bet that Toshiko had, and that Ianto had given it thought but had decided to try anyway.  “It’s raining,” she complained, not sure if Ianto could hear her.

There was a burst of white noise from the comm unit, and Martha muttered a curse under her breath.  “I didn’t catch that,” she said, irritated. 

Off in the distance, Martha could just make out a smallish building through the drizzle.  “I think I’ve found it,” she went on.  “As soon as I know anything I’ll call you, but I don’t think you’ll hear me until I get back into the main parts of the complex.”

There was another burst of static, but just under the loud noise Martha could just make out, _“Be careful.”_  She didn’t bother to acknowledge the dragon, instead moving toward her destination, quickening her pace the closer she got and hoping her shoes would be salvageable. 

The outbuilding was constructed from concrete, almost like a bunker of sorts.  That didn’t surprise Martha; the majority of the structures on the ground of CERN were built the same way.  The heavy metal door was closed, and the padlock looked formidable. 

She sighed in frustration.  “I couldn’t half use a sonic screwdriver right now.”  Martha cast her eyes about, finding a large stone that looked sturdy enough to take on the lock.  She bashed it against the padlock several times, and eventually the hasp twisted, allowing her to pull it off and open the door.

Martha took a deep breath, and entered.

It would have been dark inside, except there were several sources of light within the choking blackness of the interior.  Martha counted twelve sources…

The exact same number as the missing victims.

It looked like Toshiko had been correct in her assumption about the victims being moved somewhere close by. 

The bodies were lying on pallets on the concrete floor, silent and unmoving.  It was just a bit creepy, and Martha gave into the shudder that wracked through her. 

Then she knelt beside the closest victim, recognising her instantly. “Julia!” Martha called, hoping to get some sort of response from her friend.  There was nothing, only that eerie glow, and she wrestled with the laptop case looped around her neck in order to get the Bekaran scanner out, thankful that Ianto had insisted she take it with her.    She needed to check on Julia and the others, at least to see how far the cellular degeneration had gone. 

Would it possible to save them all?  Or were they too far gone?

Martha’s fingers were chilled, and she fumbled slightly with the controls.  Eventually she got the device turned on, and ran the scanner over Julia’s body, dismayed at what she was seeing.  Her friend was slowly unravelling, and if she had to guess she would’ve said that Julia had about twenty-four hours before catastrophic collapse. 

She fumbled the scanner to one hand, reaching for her mobile with the other.  These people needed a hospital and she was the only one able to summon the authorities, now that she was aboveground and could get a signal on her phone.

Just as her finger was hovering over the dial pad, there was a creaking noise; Martha turned, her eyes following the heavy door as it opened further, the damp light of the day protruding deeper into the shed.  A shadowy form filled the doorway, and Martha had to blink twice before she recognised just who it was.

“Doctor Harrington?” she asked.  It took a heartbeat before the truth of what she was seeing. 

_He knew these people were there._

And, to do that, he had to have put them there.

“Doctor Jones?” Harrington echoed, confusion in his voice.  Of course he hadn’t expected her to be there.  He didn’t think that much of her to begin with, so why would the thought even have crossed his mind that she’d find his stash of affected people?  Even though she’d suspected something going on, Dr Harrington probably hadn’t considered her going against orders or being able to figure things out on her own. 

Martha stood, the better to face him.  “It was you, all the time,” she accused.  “You knew about these people.  You had the authority to hide them.  Your UNIT credentials gave you free reign of CERN so you could go anywhere and no one would question you.”

Harrington sighed.  “Doctor Jones…Martha…it’s too bad you found this place.”  He reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a gun.  “Please don’t try to resist.  I really don’t want to shoot you.”

And the funny thing was…Martha believed him.

That didn’t make him any less dangerous, though.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**_10 September 2008_ **

 

****

The moment Toshiko opened the doors to the Collider’s control room, she knew it was going to take far more convincing on her part to get Professor Johnson to stop the activation.

For one thing, the professor was firmly in her element, espousing the scientific benefits of the Large Hadron Collider.  Toshiko recognised that fervent tone as she described what scientific discoveries they hoped to learn once the Collider was up and running.  There was a flush on her cheeks, and the smile that painted her face was all-too pleased and excited as she spoke to the gathered crowd of dignitaries that were hung on her every word despite what their personal feelings toward the actual ceremony were, they were so caught up in her rhetoric.

And that was the second thing…the audience.  She knew immediately that requesting the halt of the activation would go over badly, simply because Johnson wouldn’t want to look bad in front of these people, who were witnesses to her triumph.  She wouldn’t want to even entertain the notion of failure.  Johnson’s one goal was to make the Large Hadron Collider a reality, and there was no way she would be convinced just on Toshiko’s word alone.  Johnson didn’t know her; only Toshiko’s work was familiar, and only because of that one monograph that had had Tony Stark in an uproar of righteous indignation and, once that had died down, a single-minded need to hire her.  And, if Toshiko was honest with herself, if the terrorists hadn’t kidnapped her mother and forced her to steal that sonic device, chances were she’d have accepted.

Yes, the UNIT holding facility had been horrible, but in the end she’d met Jack and Ianto and she just couldn’t see herself being anywhere else but Torchwood.

And, as Torchwood, she had a job to do; one that Ianto had trusted her to do.

Taking one more look at the dignitaries that were following Professor Johnson’s speech, Toshiko took a deep breath and cleared her throat.  “If I may have your attention please!” she called out over Johnson’s words.

That gained her the attention of everyone in the control room.

Professor Johnson was frowning at the interruption.  “Doctor Sato-Jones?” she asked, shock layering her voice.  “What’s the meaning of this?”

Toshiko took a deep breath, preparing herself for the fight she knew was coming.  “There’s something wrong with the Collider, and it needs to be shut down before anyone else gets hurt.”

“We’ve checked and double-checked before today,” Johnson argued.  “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with my Collider!”

“Tell that to the missing twelve people who became ill after working inside the tunnel,” Toshiko said. 

Johnson looked confused.  “What twelve people?  What the hell are you talking about?”

For someone who’d overseen the entire project from the beginning, Professor Johnson seemed to have completely failed when it came to what was going on behind the scenes…

“I think I can answer that, Professor.”  Toshiko turned to watch Martha’s UNIT major step from the crowd.  In the overhead lighting she could just make out the name on the badge on his uniform jacket: Webster. 

Well, at least she now had a name to put to the face. 

“One of my team, Dr Jones, believed that something was happening to people in the complex,” the Major went on.  “I’m guessing that she’s told this lady…I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch your name?”

Toshiko narrowed her eyes at him.  “Doctor Toshiko Sato,” she answered, not bothering to hide her anger.  This man had treated Martha like an idiot, and she certainly wanted him to know there was no love lost between them.

Something flickered in Webster’s eyes, and for a second Toshiko wondered if he somehow recognised her name; but no, he couldn’t, because only the top brass – Colonel Mace among them – knew of her contract with Torchwood.  “Well, I’m guessing that Dr Jones shared her outrageous theories with Dr Sato, and that she was convincing enough that the doctor here believed her.”  His eyes met Toshiko’s, and she didn’t appreciate the smug gleam in them.  “I can assure you, Dr Sato, that UNIT investigated Dr Jones’ allegations and found no proof to them at all.”

“And I can assure you,” Toshiko echoed, barely keeping a hold  of the sarcasm that wanted to escape, “that _Torchwood_ investigated and found all the evidence you’d need to prove that something really is going on around here, Major.”  She couldn’t believe that UNIT had been so inept that they’d missed what it had taken her team only hours to discover.

Oh, now that got his attention.  “Torchwood?” he demanded. “You’re way out of your jurisdiction, Doctor.”

“You’re more worried about jurisdiction than about twelve missing people?” Toshiko asked incredulously.  “I would think you’d be more concerned about my proof than anything else.  And besides, Martha wouldn’t have had to call us in if you’d only treated her like an adult with more off-world experience than your entire team combined than like a child who was only demanding attention.”  She was becoming more and more angry, and a part of her really wished it was Ianto doing the confronting and not her; he was much better at hiding his temper than she was. 

“Excuse me,” Professor Johnson butted in, looking both furious and confused at the same time.  “Just what is Torchwood?  And just why and what are you supposed to be investigating?”

Webster opened his mouth to answer, but there was no way Toshiko was going to let him get a word in.  “Torchwood exists to protect the planet against alien threats,” she answered.  “We were contacted by Martha Jones when a friend of hers who worked here became ill and vanished.  There had been eleven others previously who’d gotten sick, but while the records say they’d been taken to a hospital in France, they never made it.  They’d vanished.  When Martha went to her superiors,” and then she glared at Webster, who didn’t seem at all bothered by it, “they dismissed her concerns.  So she had no choice but to call us in.”

“I don’t know what you think you’ve found –“ Webster began.

“You mean besides the glowing man in the infirmary?”

That shut the major up.

“Glowing man?” Johnson asked.  She didn’t seem to be panicking, which was a good thing, but she also didn’t seem to be believing it either.

Toshiko nodded.  “One of the technicians was down in the Collider tunnel, and he was affected by something there.  It’s somehow stolen the neutrons from his body and he’s…fading away.  We don’t know if it’s something to do with the machinery or if something somehow came through during the injection test you ran last May…but you need to shut things down until we can fully investigate what’s going on.  Two of my team are in the tunnels now, trying to see if they can find something –“

“But that’s incredibly dangerous,” Johnson exclaimed.  “We’ve already begun the activation process.  If they’re in there when we go fully online…”

“Which is another reason why you need to shut things down now,” Toshiko urged.  “You’re all scientists here…you’re all searching for answers, which I have about this.  And that answer is if you start that thing up all hell’s most likely going to break loose.”

Johnson chewed on her lip, and Toshiko could tell she was uncertain about the whole thing. 

“Professor Johnson,” Major Webster said, stepping closer, “I don’t pretend that UNIT and Torchwood get along, but they do know what they’re doing.  If Dr Sato says something’s wrong…I think you might want to believe her and shut things down for now.”

Toshiko had no idea what had changed the man’s mind, but she was grateful for the support.  Something in her face must have communicated itself to him, because Webster shrugged.  “I can’t argue if you do have proof.”

“Just go down to the infirmary and see for yourself…unless the person who’s behind getting rid of the other victims has managed to move him.”  That was a danger, that Toshiko’s proof could possibly disappear on them, but it was something she had to risk. 

“You think there’s someone on the project disappearing the ones affected?”

“Has to be.”  She shrugged.  “They couldn’t have walked off on their own.”

Webster made a gesture, and two UNIT soldiers stepped forward.  “Go to the infirmary and lock it down,” he ordered.  “I don’t want anyone else vanishing on my watch.” 

The soldiers saluted, and left the control room.   A few seconds later, there was a squawk from a radio, and another soldier passed a handset to Webster who listened to the confirmation that there was, indeed, a glowing man in the infirmary.

Toshiko felt like sagging from relief, but it wasn’t over yet.  Professor Johnson still hadn’t made a move to shut the Collider down, and that was worrying her.  Still, Toshiko couldn’t blame her; they were talking about her life’s work, and it couldn’t be easy admitting that there was possibly something wrong with the thing she’d put all her blood, sweat, and hope into.

She was going to try convincing Johnson once more when her comm squawked.  The unexpected noise made her jump.  “Yes?” she answered it, bringing the device up to her mouth.

_“Toshiko,”_ Ianto’s voice sounded tinny from the small speaker.  _“I tried reaching Martha aboveground, and I think she’s found where the other victims might be but the signal was too broken up to confirm. I don’t think we took into consideration that one of us would be on the surface at some point.”_

The technician cursed herself.  She hadn’t counted on them being separated all that far, and the small comms units didn’t have that great a range, especially with all that concrete, steel, and earth above them. 

In fact, Toshiko had been able to feel the ground around them from the moment they’d set foot in the complex.  It was comforting in a way; warmth and safety and peace all rolled up into one thing that lay above them all like a living blanket. Being the Friend of Earth gave her certain senses of the planet around her, and she wondered if Ianto had been feeling the same way.  It hadn’t occurred to her that what she’d experience as natural would have cut her off from Martha, who could be walking into danger and there wasn’t anything they could do about it.

_“Patrick and I haven’t found anything yet,”_ Ianto went on.  _“But there’s something…I can’t put my finger on it.  You remember what I said about the last victim?”_

She did, and she understood just why Ianto wasn’t saying it over the comm.  After all, he had to know she wasn’t alone and he wouldn’t want to give too much of his nature away.  “I do,” thinking back about his comment regarding how Foiret had smelled.

_“It’s here as well.”_ There was a pause.  _“I’ll call you back if we find anything.”_

“That was the Ambassador,” Johnson accused. 

“He’s actually our Second in Command,” Toshiko admitted, concerned at what Ianto had said.  “Patrick and I are on his team.”

“Jones is here then?” Webster asked.  “Harkness must have taken Dr Jones seriously if he sent his SIC along.”

“Ianto and Martha are friends,” Toshiko rebutted.  “They went through that Year together.”

She had the pleasure of seeing Webster go slightly pale.  So, he was high enough up the command chain to have access to the reports of the Master and the Toclafane…and yet he must not have paid too much attention since he hadn’t equated Martha Jones with the Nightingale of those reports. 

Of course, that meant that Webster did, in fact, have enough clearance to know just who Toshiko was, which was worrying in a way.  Not that UNIT could do anything to her, not while she was with Torchwood and was obeying the letter of her contract, but it was still worrisome.

“Look,” she said, “we need to get things shut down until we can figure out what’s going on.  I’m certain everyone in this room wouldn’t want something dangerous happening when we could have avoided it.”

There were some rumblings from the crowd gathered in the control room, and Toshiko couldn’t tell if it was positive or negative.  Her gaze went out over the scientists that had come together to watch the ground-breaking activation of the Collider, and she could see that most of them were confused by what was going on.  She couldn’t blame them; Toshiko figured that about ninety-nine percent of them had no idea what Torchwood was, let alone what they did, and most of the conversation had to have been going over their collective heads. 

Her eyes met those of Patrick’s friend, Clint Barton.  He raised an eyebrow at her, as if trying to ask her something that Toshiko didn’t understand.  His gaze was intense, and she found herself staring him down until she had to finally turn away but not before she watched him pull another man in a dark suit toward him and whisper something in his ear.

She made a mental note to ask Patrick about him.  Toshiko knew that her friend trusted Agent Barton, but she didn’t know him and had no idea what he was trying to figure out about her.  Well, she wished him luck, and then turned all her attention back to Professor Johnson and Major Webster.  She didn’t have time to waste on it.

Toshiko knew she had the major convinced that something was wrong; now it was all up to Johnson, who genuinely seemed shocked that strange happenings were going on behind her back.

But then, she understood completely why the scientist might not have been noticed a thing.  Toshiko herself could sometimes become so lost in the science that the world could have exploded and she not realise it.

The sound of the Collider itself was gaining in volume, and just when Toshiko was beginning to despair of Johnson cooperating at all the professor looked at her technicians and said, “Prepare for total lockdown of all systems.  Take down all consoles and step away, and hopefully we can do a hard shutdown without too much damage.”  She glanced at Toshiko as her people went to work.  “Everything’s been pre-programmed,” she explained.  “We can try to lock down the Collider but there’s no guarantee that’s going to completely turn everything off.”

Toshiko understood what Johnson was saying.  There were certain safeguards built into any sort of machinery, and if the shutdown couldn’t be completely accomplished then things could get ugly.  Of course the Collider had been nearly powered up; the Powers that Be would have wanted as flashy a show as possible, and there wasn’t anything flashier than the proverbial Big Green Button.  Toshiko knew just how much any tech couldn’t just be turned on like that, and Johnson would have had things set up for the final activation.

She was tempted to contact Ianto on the comm, and have him and Patrick leave the tunnel, but she knew they still didn’t have any sort of idea what was going on down within the Collider.  But, if some sort of portal had been opened during the injection test in May…

There could be a way to make sure.

“You have an anti-proton facility here, right?” she asked, her mind turning over the sudden theory in her head and not seeing much of a problem with it.

“We do,” Johnson confirmed.  “We won the Nobel Prize for it back in the Eighties.”

Toshiko nodded; yes, she recalled reading about it.  “We have no idea if this is an equipment issue or if there was a small rift opened last May that let something through.  I don’t think we can take a chance here, and to be honest if this is alien then we should be considering a way to close that rift if it does exist.”  She couldn’t think of any sort of equipment issue causing what she’d seen with Leon Foiret, and had been leaning toward an alien influence, so coming up with a plan to close something that might have opened up only made sense.  “That facility is still active isn’t it?”

Johnson nodded.  “We use it for making atoms of anti-matter…” She frowned, and Toshiko could see her making the calculations in her head. 

And then, she smiled.  “That’s rather brilliant.  Can I hire you?”

Toshiko couldn’t help the smirk that turned her lips upward.

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Major Webster demanded. 

“If I can flip one of the magnets to create protons instead of anti-protons,” Johnson explained even as she worked at her console, “the beams will cancel each other out.”

“And if there is a rift open within the Collider,” Toshiko finished, “it won’t be able to open again and whatever came through will be trapped here, where we can deal with it.”

“That’s assuming there’s an alien presence within the Collider,” Webster pointed out.

“There’s nothing within the machinery that would cause a person to lose their neutrons,” Johnson pointed out.  “Everything’s been tested and retested under high-pressure conditions.”

“We have to assume then that there’s something alien within the tunnel,” Toshiko agreed.  “And I think we also need to assume that there’s someone on this base who knows about it, and is actively trying to keep people from finding out.”

As if on cue, the doors flew open, and Toshiko’s eyes widened as she watched Dr Oliver Harrington enter, holding a gun on Martha, who was damp and looked furious.   “Stand away from the controls,” the UNIT doctor ordered, poking Martha in the back with the weapon.  “I won’t hesitate to use this.”

“Doctor Harrington,” Webster barked, ‘what the hell are you doing?”

“You can’t shut the Collider down,” Harrington snapped.  “I won’t let you do it.” He grabbed Martha by the arm, bringing the gun up to rest against her head.  Martha looked disgusted by the whole thing.

Toshiko felt her anger flow through her.  Martha was her friend, and she was furious that someone dared to use her as a bargaining chip.  “Shooting Martha won’t help you,” she snarled.  She could feel the Earth around her reacting to her temper, but there really wasn’t anything she could with that power, not at this time.

“It won’t matter,” Harrington answered.  His eyes lit up with an almost holy-seeming fervour.  “She’ll just come back.  Don’t you understand?”

“Understand what, doctor?” Webster asked.  He was holding his hand away from his gun, but Toshiko could tell he was ready to act immediately when the proper time came. 

Toshiko felt a sudden shiver spill down her spine.  Of course Harrington was behind the disappearances.  With his clearances he would have had no trouble at all arranging to have the victims moved and hidden somewhere.  He’d also be in the position to completely discredit Martha to her superiors, in an attempt to hide what he was doing. 

She could see that Webster was thinking the same thing, and Toshiko was glad of it even if she hated the idea of Martha playing hostage to Harrington’s demands.

“My wife,” Harrington answered Webster, his voice going soft.  “She came back to me, after the injector test in May.  I heard her, down in the tunnel, and she told me that we’d opened a doorway to Heaven.”

“Excuse me?” Johnson exclaimed. 

“No,” Toshiko denied, understanding immediately what was going on, “Doctor Harrington, it’s not Heaven.  A portal to another dimension was obviously opened during that test, and a being came through.  But it can’t be your wife –“

“You don’t know that!” Harrington practically screamed.  “She spoke to me…she knew things that only Marie knew!  And she told me, she told me that if I helped her, she’d bring everyone back to life! And it’s happening!”

“It’s not, Oliver,” Martha put in. 

“Yes it is!  Didn’t you see those people?  They’re becoming Angels!  That’s why I had to hide them; they’re too weak right now and I had to protect them.  When the doorway is opened, then all the souls will be drawn out of Heaven and everyone will come back to life!”

“No!” Toshiko said, taking a step toward Harrington and Martha.  Out of the corner of her eye, she would just see Webster doing the same thing.  They needed to stop Harrington before things got too far out of control.  “Those people…their neutrons are being stolen, not their souls.  The dead don’t come back, Oliver.  It’s impossible.”

“And that’s it?” Harrington was close to snapping; Toshiko could see it in his eyes and in his stance behind Martha.  “You think there’s nothing after death?” He drew himself up.  “You don’t have faith.”

Toshiko tuned out the argument going between Harrington and Martha, taking another step closer to the pair as they haggled about life and death.  She spared a glance over at Professor Johnson, who was standing away from the control console, disbelief written across her face as she listened to the debate going on.  She couldn’t help but feel sorry for Harrington; Toshiko knew what it was like to be controlled by an alien being, to have their emotions played upon and twisted for another’s ends. 

There were enough soldiers and armed bodyguards in the room; why hadn’t someone done anything to stop Harrington?  Toshiko glanced around the room one more time…and noticed that Barton and the man he’d been speaking with were gone. 

Just in time for the door behind Harrington to slam open.

The doctor was startled by the noise, swinging himself around and pulling Martha with him.  The man that practically threw himself at Harrington ended up taking both doctors down, but Martha got clear and rolled away as the agent twisted Harrington face-first into the cold tile of the floor and not being very careful with the affected man at all.  He kicked the now loose gun away.

The agent – slightly stocky, bald, and wearing glasses – held onto the struggling Harrington with one hand while the other dug around under his ubiquitous black suit and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.  As he snapped them in place, he said, “Don’t you think you should be shutting that thing down?” He sounded mild, as if he was simply commenting on the weather.

“NO!” Harrington screamed.  “You can’t!”  He tried to buck the agent off, but his captor only looked bored.

Johnson made her way back to the control console, but not before Toshiko’s comm made its presence known once more.

She didn’t even get a chance to answer before Ianto’s voice was echoing from the tiny speaker.  _“Something’s down here,”_ her friend gasped.  _“It’s after Patrick.  I’m heading to him, but you need to get the Collider –“_

The comm cut off.

 

 

 

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**_10 September 2008_ **

 

****

“This is no job for the Ambassador of Wales,” Ianto said primly, his hands on his hips as he surveyed the Collider tunnel.

The only light entering the tunnel was from the open hatch, illuminating the smooth concrete arching overhead, tall enough that Ianto could walk upright and wide so that he and Patrick could be side by side and not get in each other’s way.  It wasn’t large enough for him to transform in case of danger, and that bothered him more than he cared to admit.  He would not be able to call upon his greatest weapon, his flame; nor could he rely on his strength and his scales for protection, of himself and his teammate.

It couldn’t be helped.

The air was cold and still, nothing circulating it and it tasted stale on Ianto’s tongue.  There was nothing living in this man-made cave; nothing to break the unnatural atmosphere that felt flat against his exposed skin.

And yet, a tingle sparked across the dragon’s senses, setting his nerves to jumping just under his skin.  Ianto had entered the Collider tunnel thinking that he’d be able to feel any sort of Rift that might have been opened; so far, he’d never been wrong where space/time rifts were concerned.  But this…this was different, and not in a good way.  The wrongness of it crawled down his spine to settle unpleasantly in his stomach, and Ianto almost immediately felt the need to shower. 

The smell, as well…it was markedly stronger down in the tunnel than it had been on Leon Foiret’s body; cloying and faintly sickening, like days’ old vomit mixed with what reminded Ianto of oversweet perfume.  He began breathing through his mouth in an attempt to dispel the odour from his sensitive nostrils.

“You okay?” Patrick asked softly, as if he, himself, was also affected by the stillness of the tunnel.

Ianto chose not to answer.  “Let’s get started.  You head that way,” he pointed to the right, “and I’ll take the other direction.  If you find anything, call me immediately.  Don’t try to engage whatever it is by yourself.”

“Sure thing, boss,” the American agreed.  “Let’s just hope it doesn’t want to engage _us_.”

That went without saying.

“We taking the bikes?” Patrick asked.

The bicycles were parked just outside the hatch.  They’d been mentioned in the information packet that they’d received as a way for the technicians to get through the miles’ long tunnel faster.  They were equipped with lights to cut through the darkness, as well as packs attached to the handlebars and rear baggage racks for the various tools the techs needed in order to work on the Collider. 

“We ride,” Ianto answered, “and we’ll meet up at the other end.”

“Nice bit of exercise.” 

The dragon turned to look at Patrick.  “Be careful, yeah?”

“You bet.”

 

**********

 

Ianto had forewent the bicycle’s light, instead changing his eyes into their dragon aspect and relying on his better than human eyesight.  The interior of the tunnel showed to his eyes as shades of grey, and perfectly clear to his vision.  He could make out nothing; only perfectly rounded walls and ceiling that passed by him as he pedalled along. 

The air around him grew chillier and far thicker, until it got to the point that it was becoming hard to breathe it.  Ianto wondered if Patrick was having the same problem, and had just decided to check up on his teammate when his comm squawked, making him jump and nearly crash his bike.  “Yes?” he answered, getting the bicycle back under control

_“My bike has a bell.”_ The sound of ringing came through the comm quite clearly.

“I’m happy for you,” Ianto answered dryly.  “Do you see anything?”

_“No, nothing.  It’s getting colder though.”_

Ianto had to agree with that.  “And that smell…it’s stronger.”

_“Maybe it’s me being melodramatic,”_ Patrick said, _“but this damned tunnel is creepy in ways a tunnel shouldn’t be.”_

Ianto had to agree with that, as well.  “I’m going to call Martha and see if she’s found anything.”  He used touch to switch the comm over to the one Martha had.  “Martha,” he said.

He was greeted by static.

The dragon frowned.  He stopped his bike in order to play with the comm’s settings.  “Martha, can you hear me?”

The static faded just a little, enough for Ianto to hear, _“…can hear…barely…”_

This is something they hadn’t considered…that they’d be separated like this, part of the team still in the complex and a part on the surface.  For the same reason their mobiles wouldn’t work, the comms that Toshiko had programmed especially for use in CERN would not function with all the ground and manmade materials between them. 

“How’s it going?” he replied, hoping she would be able to get some of his message.

_“…raining...”_ he heard her say.

“It’s cold and raining…we could have stayed in Cardiff,” the dragon joked, unable to help himself.

There was a pause, and then, _“…didn’t…”_

Ianto figured as much.

And then, “ _”…found it…”_

‘Be careful,” he cautioned, worried for his friend.  With the comms not working properly, Martha was basically cut off from the rest of the team.  Anything could happen, and Ianto cursed himself silently even though there hadn’t really been any other decision he could have made but to send Martha out on her own.  Toshiko had been needed to try to talk Professor Johnson into shutting things down, while both he and Patrick were the only choices to search the tunnel; two were needed for the distances involved. 

But then, Martha could take care of herself.  She’d proved that, and more.  Ianto had to trust her to be able to handle whatever happened, although he still couldn’t help but be worried for his friend.

There was nothing for it.  He and Patrick were in the tunnels, while Toshiko was in the control room.  There would be no way for any of them to get to Martha if something occurred out on the surface.  Hopefully nothing would, and she would be able to locate the other people affected by whatever was down in this tunnel. 

Ianto sighed.  He raised the comm once more, making the change to Toshiko’s matching one.  The least he could do was check in with her. 

From the sound of her voice, something had startled her…quite possibly the sound of the comm activating; it was quite irritating.  _“Yes?”_

Ianto couldn’t help but grin.  It felt like payback for his near-accident on the bike when Patrick had contacted him.  “Toshiko, I tried reaching Martha aboveground, and I think she’s found where the other victims might be but the signal was too broken up to confirm.  I don’t think we took into consideration that one of us would be on the surface at some point.”

He very carefully used ‘we’, since it would only make Toshiko feel guiltier than she would already when she realised what was a basic flaw in the comms she’d set up.  It wasn’t anyone’s fault; it was just something they hadn’t thought of when coming up with the idea of the comms. 

Toshiko was silent, so Ianto continued, “Patrick and I haven’t found anything yet.  But there’s something…I can’t put my finger on it.” He pursed his lips, knowing that she wouldn’t be alone and if he said much more he’d be in real danger of giving himself away.  “You remember what I said about the last victim?” It was the largest hint he dared give, knowing that his friend would understand it.

There was another pause, and then Toshiko answered, _“I do.”_

The dragon grinned.  His Toshiko was far too clever.  “It’s here as well,” he told her.  “I’ll call you back if we find anything.”

He flipped his comm back to Patrick’s frequency.  “How are you doing?”

_“Freezing my ass off,”_ came the snarky reply.  _“You get Martha?”_

“Barely.  Her being up on the surface means our comms don’t work.”

_“Damnit.  Yeah, we should have thought of that.  Tosh’s gonna be mad at herself, isn’t she?”_

“Of course she is.”

_“Then we’ll just have to take her out and get her drunk when we get home.”_

Ianto laughed.  “I’m quite certain Kathy would have something to say about that.”

Patrick’s own laughter sounded slightly distorted from the comm’s tiny speaker.

He got back on his bike, pushing off and heading back down the tunnel, putting himself back on task.  It wasn’t long before his nose was tickling, and he rubbed it to keep from sneezing.  He knew there couldn’t be any dust down there, since anything in the tunnel that wasn’t part of the experiment they’d built it for would taint their results, so Ianto figured out that the strange smell was beginning to somehow affect him.  Breathing through his mouth didn’t seem to help, either.

The air seemed to become heavier, making his forward progress harder as if he were trying to push through treacle.  Ianto stopped, climbed off the bike and left it there, moving along by foot.  It didn’t make it any easier, but at the same time he felt just a bit more in control of his movements.  He could sense the Earth around him, and he tried to take comfort in that, but for some reason the very atmosphere of the tunnel stole that away from him.

It was really difficult to fight the sudden urge to leave; to run out of the tunnel and leave things alone.  However, he couldn’t do that, not with the possible fates of thirteen innocents in the balance.  And, whatever it was that caused those poor people to lose their bodily cohesion would most likely not stop what it was doing.  If the Collider started up, and it got worse…no, the dragon didn’t dare run away from this.  This was part of his duty, and he would not shirk it.

His comm sounded, and Ianto answered, ignoring the fact that his hand seemed to be shaking.

_“Ianto?”_ Patrick’s voice echoed through the empty tunnel.  Ianto frowned; he’d never heard the American sound so tentative.  _“I think…there’s…I can hear her…”_

Without even realising he did it, the dragon reversed direction and began running back down the tunnel.   “Patrick, what’s wrong?” he asked sharply, the sudden fear making his heart pound in his chest.

_“It’s my grandmother,”_ his teammate answered.  _“But I’ve never met her…she’s speaking to me, telling me she’s dead…”_

Of course, Ianto knew about Patrick’s mysterious grandmother.  She’d disappeared before Patrick’s father had been born, only coming back into the elder Delaware’s life three years later, bringing the man’s son to be raised by Canton and his lover, Patrick Andrews.  She’d vanished once more, and only the vaguest of rumours surrounded her.  Ianto didn’t even know her name.

“That’s not your grandmother,” Ianto insisted, running faster.  Whatever this was, it was playing on Patrick’s emotions concerning his long-gone grandmother, and Ianto had to get him out of the tunnel fast.  “You have to fight it.”

Nothing came from the comm, and hurriedly Ianto switched to Toshiko’s channel, not wanting to risk missing anything Patrick would say, but at the same time needing to warn her.  He had no idea how she was getting on with having the Collider shut down, in fact she could have already succeeded, but the danger was still there.

“Something’s down here,” he said before even getting a confirmation that she was listening, beginning to breathe a bit heavily from his mad dash toward Patrick’s location.  “It’s after Patrick.  I’m heading to him, but you need to get the Collider –“

_“Iohannes…”_

The voice made Ianto stop in his tracks so fast his shoes skidded on the smooth concrete of the tunnel, his hand loosening enough that it lost the grip on the comm and it clattered to the ground.  He swore his heart stopped for a moment; no one had called him by that name in a very long time.

“Who are you?” he demanded, forcing his feet to move once more.  He needed to get to Patrick, to help his teammate…

_“Ieuan…”_ The voice – or maybe it was a second one? – called out again, and it was all the dragon could do not to stop once more.  It was another name from the far past, one he hadn’t gone by for…

_“We will always be with you,”_ the female voice murmured, so close to his ear that Ianto could have sworn he’d felt his hair move with the unseen breath.  _“Come to us, beloved.  You belong with us.”_

Never had Ianto been this afraid; not even when…oh Gods and Goddesses, this couldn’t be happening!

“I’m not listening to you!” he cried out.  “You’re dead! You’ve been dead for centuries!”

The voices – there were three of them, each different, and he knew them like he knew his own heart – surrounded him, whispering to him in confidential tones that spoke of familiarity and of the coldness of death.  _“Come to us, Ianto…we’re ever so lonely…ever so hungry…”_

He couldn’t listen.  He didn’t dare.  These voices claimed to be his family, but the dead didn’t come back like that.  The still air was heavy with dread, and Ianto’s footsteps faltered as he tried to ignore them.   

This was what they’d been searching for.  Ianto felt it in his bones that these voices were behind what had happened to the poor victims that had disappeared.  They hounded him, trying to convince him that they were special, that they were the three people in the world that he would always want back…

_“My son,”_ it sounded so much like his mother Ianto wanted to weep.  _“We love you; you belong with us…”_

“No!” he shouted.  “You aren’t my family!  They’re dead and gone!” 

The dragon increased his speed.  This was what had to be happening to Patrick as well, and he needed to get to his friend before something worse happened.  Ianto tried to force the voices away, but they simply whispered louder, trying to drown out his own assurance that his family weren’t speaking to him at all, that it was some sort of hideous creature using his heart against him.

_“We are here…”_

_“Come to us…”_

_“Listen to our voices…”_

“I’m not listening!” Ianto shouted vehemently. 

He _did_ listen, however, when a sharp cry reverberated down the tunnel.  Putting on a final burst of speed, Ianto sprinted down and into the dark, the voices following him inexorably, trying to ignore them and concentrate on Patrick instead.

By the time he reached his teammate, Ianto’s heart was thumping and his lungs were wheezing as he slammed down next to the collapsed Patrick, who was kneeling on the concrete, his hands over his ears, shaking his head and muttering, “No,” over and over, as if the word could keep the voices out.

_“Come to us…”_

“Bugger off!” Ianto snarled, putting both hands on Patrick’s shoulders and shaking his friend roughly.  “Patrick!  Don’t listen!  They aren’t real!”

_“We are real…”_

“Grandma…?”

“No, it’s Ianto.  Come on, we need to get out of here.”  He looped his arm around Patrick’s waist and hoisted him bodily onto his feet.  The American leaned heavily on him, hands still over his ears, moaning as if his soul was being sucked from his body.

Which could have been the case, really.

_“There’s so much death in his short life…”_

Ianto wanted to ask what that meant, but he was too busy half-carrying, half-dragging Patrick back up the Collider tunnel toward the hatch leading to the outside.  Patrick was shivering as if he was freezing with a bone-deep cold, and if Ianto wasn’t mistaken…there was a faint glow about him, which scared him more than any disembodied voice ever could.

“I want to be with them,” he heard Patrick say, his struggles to get out of Ianto’s embrace far too weak to accomplish anything.

“Not bloody likely,” Ianto growled, tightening his grasp.

Their progress was painfully slow.  Ianto wanted to contact Toshiko and find out about the process in getting the Collider shut down, but he needed both arms to support Patrick as they shambled along the tunnel. 

_“Is Patrick an angel yet?”_

_“We’re coming for you next, Iohannes…Ieuan…Ianto…”_

“Not listening!” Ianto’s shout had a desperate edge to it.  Patrick was getting weaker and weaker, and it was taking all of his remaining strength – and Ianto was quite strong, even in his human form – to drag Patrick along.  The atmosphere kept pressing down on him, making the journey much harder than it would have been.

_“We are the dead, and the dead come for all…”_

“You’re not the dead,” Ianto denied.  “You’re something alien, come through some sort of rift that opened up down in these tunnels!  We’re not about to let you get to us!”

There was a shuffling in the direction that Ianto was pulling Patrick, and he looked up from his task of putting one foot in front of the other to see someone entering the tunnel before them, a torch in one hand that nearly dazzled Ianto’s dragon-enhanced night vision, and what looked like…was that a miniature crossbow?

It took the dragon a moment to recognise Patrick’s acquaintance, the SHIELD agent Clint Barton. 

“What the hell?” Barton managed to say before his eyes widened in shock as he noticed Ianto and Patrick stumbling toward him. Ianto knew what they must look like: Patrick glowing in the darkness, and Ianto himself barely supporting him in their trip toward the outside world. 

It took him a few seconds to recall that his eyes were in their dragon aspect, and that Barton could see them.

It didn’t matter right now; Patrick was more important than Ianto’s secret at the moment.  “We have to get out of here,” he snapped wearily. 

That broke Barton from his surprised paralysis, and his eyes darted around as he moved to Patrick’s other side.  “What the hell is going on?”

_“Hello, Clint…”_

Ianto heard Barton gasp, but the agent didn’t say anything as he helped carry Patrick toward the outside. 

“They say they’re the dead,” Ianto answered.  “Don’t listen to them.”

“Not planning on it,” the other man gritted. 

_“Leave Patrick…he’s already a part of us…”_

“Sorry,” Barton said, “but I’m more afraid of what Patrick’s uncle will do to me if I did that than what some weird-ass voices have in store.”

Ianto choked out a laugh at that.  “Not far now,” he encouraged, tightening his arm around Patrick’s waist.

“Can’t believe I’m gonna die in a fucking freezing tunnel in Switzerland,” Patrick gasped.

“What did you imagine?” Ianto asked, wanting his friend’s attention on him and not the voices clamouring for their attention.  “Tahiti?”

“I don’t feel so good…”

“Listen to me,” Ianto said urgently.  “We are going to make it out of here, because if you die I have to fill out the paperwork and it’s a bitch.  Plus I’m with Mr Barton…I don’t relish telling your family that we went and got you killed.”  He could now see the open hatch, not that far down the tunnel.  “Tell you what…you come along with us and I’ll make you the good coffee for a week.”

“Bribery…it’ll get you everywhere, Boss.”

 “Glad to hear it.”

“Ianto? Patrick?” Martha’s voice echoed through the tunnel, and Ianto could see her half-inside the tunnel, waiting for them at the hatch. 

 “Stay out, Martha,” Ianto managed to shout.  “It’s too dangerous…”

“Oh, it is?  I never would have guessed…”

Barton laughed.  “Oh, I like her.”

“You can have her if you want,” Ianto huffed. “I’m sure I don’t need her sass.” 

As they got closer, the air became lighter and the voices were fading out.  It became easier to carry Patrick, and he and Barton managed to heave him through the open hatch in what seemed like no time.  Martha helped as they maneuvered him to the ground, where she began to examine him as she called Toshiko to let her know they were out of the Collider.  She then reported the situation as it was.

“Tosh and Professor Johnson couldn’t get the Collider shut down completely, but they worked out a way to close whatever it was down in the tunnel.  We just needed to get you both out…or should I say all three of you?” She gave Barton the stink eye, and the SHIELD agent simply winked at her.

Ianto got to his feet and closed the hatch, using the large wheel in the centre of the door to seal it.  “It was some sort of alien presence,” he said, leaning against the cool metal.

“Yeah. We figured as much,” Martha agreed.  She pulled the strap of the laptop case she was carrying over her head and brought out the Bekaran scanner, running it over Patrick’s glowing body. 

“Is he gonna be okay?” Barton asked worriedly. 

A deep rumble sounded from just behind the door.  “And that would be Professor Johnson’s and Tosh’s plan,” she explained.  “Something about protons and anti-protons…they’ll have to explain, I’m just the medical doctor around here.”

That was, of course, putting Martha’s intelligence simply.  There was a lot that she did understand that was outside of her purview, but Ianto could guess that quantum physics was just one of those things that she didn’t get.

Neither did he, so she wasn’t alone in that.

However, the effects of what they had done were nearly instantaneous, as the glow suffusing Patrick began to fade away.  Martha kept scanning him.  “He’s regaining the neutrons he’d lost,” she said, grinning.  “He’s going to be just fine.”

Ianto’s shoulders slumped in relief.  “Thank the Great Dragons,” he murmured. 

Patrick’s eyes fluttered open.  “Please tell me that just didn’t happen,” he moaned.  He struggled to sit up, but failed spectacularly.  “My head is killing me…”

“You should learn self-defence,” Martha said in sarcastic relief.

Footsteps rang down the corridor and Ianto looked up, seeing Toshiko running toward them.  “Are you all okay?” she asked, her eyes darting toward Patrick, and then at Agent Barton who was sitting there with them on the floor, carefully folding up what had been, indeed, a handheld crossbow. 

Ianto wondered vaguely where he’d gotten it, and then realised it just didn’t matter. 

They were all fine; they’d made it through. 

But Barton was giving him a knowing look, and Ianto would have to do something about the agent before they could call the mission a complete success.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**_10 September 2008_ **

****

The clean-up took hours, and by the time it was done Martha was exhausted.

Despite the fact that Major Webster had pretty much called her paranoid ever since she’d brought her concerns to him over what was going on, he actually put her in charge of the Collider victims, setting her loose in the infirmary with anything she could have wanted at her fingertips.  She immediately had the victims brought in from the shed where Harrington had put them; on the whole, they’d stopped glowing within an hour of Collider’s activation.  The ones who’d been newest exposed – like Patrick and Leon Foiret – had improved quickly.  The ones who’d been attacked first took longer, and were severely debilitated even when they’d stopped glowing.  It would be weeks of recovery for them.

As for Oliver Harrington, the agent who’d tackled him happily turned him over to Webster.  Introduced as Agent Sitwell, he promptly took over the moving of the victims back to the base and turned out to be a fairly decent assistant in the infirmary.  When Martha mentioned it, he’d just shrugged and claimed field medic training.

The rest of Torchwood were off doing what they needed to do to get things calmed down.  Martha knew that Ianto had closeted himself with Webster and the head of CERN security, and did she want to be a fly on the wall in _that_ meeting. She knew her friend; knew the dragon would have plenty to say about how things had been bumbled.  Honestly, the first victim should have at least tipped them off to something strange going on, although Martha supposed she should give Harrington credit for managing to completely sweep things under the rug under the influence of whatever had come through into the tunnel. 

Toshiko was with Professor Johnson, helping her to make the repairs needed to prevent such a rift opening ever again.  When Martha had come back into the control room after seeing that Ianto and Patrick were alright, the professor had been excited over seeing what she’d built to Collider for: the Higgs particle, only to have Toshiko gently tell her that the experiment had been flawed, with a pair of bicycles and two lost comm units in the tunnel when the proton and anti-proton beams had slammed into each other.  Martha had felt instantly sorry for the woman when she began to cry.

But Toshiko had offered to help her fix things, and Professor Johnson had perked up instantly.  Now they were both by the control panel, taking in technobabble. 

Yes, Martha had travelled with the Doctor and knew for certain that technobabble was an actual language.

Agent Barton stayed in the infirmary as well, keeping an eye on Patrick and glaring at anyone who got into Martha’s way.  She had to admit, she appreciated it; she really didn’t need anyone bothering her when she was working. 

Of course she remembered hearing Barton’s name mentioned during that Year, although she’d never met him.  He’d been off undercover for the SHIELD part of the Resistance when she and Ianto had come through New Saxon but she’d heard enough to know that he was trustworthy.  Plus, he was well known to Patrick, which put Barton into another completely trustworthy bracket altogether.

So she let him watch, and kept to her work.

At some point, Ianto finally came to fetch her.  By that time she was nearly dead on her feet; she glanced at the clock on the wall, surprised to see it was nearly 22:00 local time.  No wonder she was tired.

“Is Patrick okay to leave?” he asked, touching her gently on the shoulder as if he thought she was going to break if the caress was any firmer.

“Yes, please,” she heard Patrick say from his bed a few feet down from where she was working on one of the worst of those affected.

“If he pops off one more time about being fine and wanting to leave, I’m going to pump him so full of sedatives he’ll sleep for a week,” Martha grumbled good-naturedly.

“I love you too, Martha!” Patrick snarked.

 She shook her head tiredly.  “This is what I have to put up with.”

Ianto smiled.  “Then we should all go back to the hotel and rest.”

“But I have too much to do here!” she protested.  Martha couldn’t just leave her patients.

“You’ve done all you can, correct?”

She had to admit Ianto was correct.

“You’re dead on your feet, and we still have to debrief for Jack.  So put away the tools of your trade Dr Jones, and come with me.”  He smirked.  “And I suppose Patrick can come too.”

“Thank God!”

Martha had to laugh at the antics.  This was one of those times when she really wished she’d gone to work for Torchwood instead of UNIT; these were her people, her family, and she missed them.

She snapped off her sterile gloves, tossing them into the receptacle.  The CERN medical personnel could handle anything that came up; Julia and the others would be fine in their capable hands.  Her friend had regained consciousness fairly early, and was currently sleeping.  It was well-earned for all of the victims.

“Agent Barton?” Ianto called out, surprising Martha a little.

The SHIELD agent stepped forward, almost standing at attention.  Martha frowned slightly, wondering just what she was missing.  “Yes sir?”

“I’d like you to come with us for the debrief.  Do you think you can be spared long enough to come back with us to our hotel?”

Barton kept a professional expression on his face, but his pale eyes gave away his surprise.  “Of course.  Let me tell Sitwell I’m going.”

Ianto nodded, and the man turned smartly and headed toward his fellow agent.  Martha looked at Ianto closely.  “What happened?”

Ianto’s ancient eyes met hers.  “When we were down in the tunnel, he…well, let’s just say I gave myself away.”

Martha gasped.  “You’re usually so careful.”

“I had Patrick to look after.”

And this was the truth of Ianto Jones…he would always put himself second when it came to the people he cared about. 

Then her eyes narrowed as she realised just what this meant.  “Are you going to Retcon him?

Ianto looked torn.  “I can’t let him remember what he saw…”

“But at the same time…” she prompted.

“Patrick knows him and trusts him.  That carries a lot of weight.”

“If it helps, I trust him too.”

Ianto looked down at her fondly.  “You know it does.”  He put his arm around her waist.  “Come on, let’s collect Toshiko and spring Patrick and get the hell out of here.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

**********

 

They got back to the hotel about half an hour later.  Without anyone saying a word they all congregated in Ianto’s room, the dragon making them welcome by immediately calling down for room service.  Martha was grateful; she hadn’t realised how hungry she was until she’d had a chance to relax a bit.

Patrick collapsed onto one of the overstuffed chairs, sighing as he sank into the cushions.  Ianto sat on the side of the bed, and Toshiko joined him, while Martha decided that the hard-backed chair next to the small table was the only way she was going to stay awake.  Barton actually took the floor, leaning back against the wall, his jacket off and his sleeves rolled up, revealing forearms that Martha appreciated for their aesthetic beauty while not comparing him to Tom at all. 

“Let’s get this over with,” Ianto began, “because it’s been a busy day and even I’m tired, which means the rest of you are probably about to collapse.  Especially Patrick, who looks half-asleep already.”

“You’re not far wrong, Boss,” came the exhausted reply.

“Agent Barton,” Ianto addressed their guest, “I asked you along because you saw something in the tunnel that no one else outside of my team knows.”

“I figured,” Barton answered, his tone and face serious.

Martha still wasn’t sure what Ianto was going to do.  Yes, she could see where it would make sense for Ianto to Retcon Barton; the more people who knew Ianto was a dragon the more dangerous it might get for her friend.  But, at the same time, it said something about the SHIELD agent that he apparently hadn’t made any sort of report yet, and she was about to speak up when Patrick beat her to it.

“You can trust him,” the American said.  Patrick raised his head from where it had been resting against the back of the chair to look at Ianto directly.  “And I bet if you asked nicely Clint won’t put anything down in writing and simply make a verbal report.”  He glanced over at the seated Barton.  “It will most likely get you a level out of it and I bet my uncle and Fury would agree to it.”

Barton’s eyebrows went up.  “You’re sure about that?”

Patrick shrugged. “What can it hurt to ask?”

Martha could see Ianto trying to work things out, to justify him coming clean to a near-complete stranger who could conceivably tell others about his true self.  She could certainly understand his hesitation; after all, there were several reasons he was the last of the dragons, and trusting humans was one of the main ones.  While Martha honestly didn’t think SHIELD would do anything, there was still a chance and Ianto wouldn’t want to risk anyone getting hurt because of him.

“Ianto,” Toshiko murmured, scooting up next to him and putting her arm around him, “trust what your heart is telling you.”

He smiled, hugging Toshiko.  “Darling Toshiko, you seem to be able to say the right thing.”

She looked pleased with his response.  “How long have I known you now?”

“Long enough it seems.”  Ianto took a deep breath and then addressed Barton.  “Agent Barton, what you saw in the tunnel is only known to my team and a handful of other people, simply because I am the last of my kind and my sense of self-preservation has been honed by centuries of hiding.  But Patrick does trust you, and I believe you to be a good person, so I’ll be honest as long as you do make that proviso: that you don’t put anything I’m about to say in any sort of paperwork you submit to your superiors.  I’d also prefer that you keep it a secret, but I do understand about conflicting loyalties and I won’t ask you to do that.”

“We can also ask you to sign a copy of the Official Secrets Act,” Toshiko offered.  “The very nature of what we do is covered by it, and you can use it to avoid saying anything altogether.”

“This is true,” Ianto conceded.  “Patrick had to sign it, which is why he didn’t let you know who we truly were.”

“I guess that would be the first question,” Barton replied slowly.  “I did hear the discussion between Professor Johnson and Dr Sato-Jones…” he frowned.  “Are you two even married?”

“No, that was just a cover,” Toshiko answered, shooting a look toward Martha, who simply shrugged.  It had been a really good cover story, after all, even if Martha said so herself.  “My fiancée is going to be laughing about it when we get home.”

“As is my mate,” Ianto added.  “It’s a good thing Jack isn’t really the jealous type.”

Toshiko lifted an eyebrow.  “Are you sure about that?”

“Maybe I should have said that Jack isn’t going to be jealous because it’s Toshiko.”

That caused a ripple of laughter through the room, even coming from Patrick who was looking more and more exhausted the longer he sat there.  Martha was tempted to call an end to the meeting and send him to bed, but she knew it would be fruitless; Patrick would want to stay through the debrief, because certain decisions would affect him directly.

 “So you all really do hunt down alien threats?” Barton asked, genuinely curious.

“That’s what we do,” Ianto confirmed.  “Torchwood has been protecting the planet since Queen Victoria’s time.  She’s the one who chartered Torchwood after a run-in with an alien werewolf.”

“You’re not shitting me?” Barton asked incredulously, grinning like a maniac.  “And honest-to-God alien werewolf?”

“I’m not shitting you,” Ianto grinned tiredly.  “I’m the Second in Command of the current iteration of Torchwood based in Cardiff.”

“And Webster was right,” Toshiko added, “we are a bit out of our jurisdiction, but Martha is a good friend and we weren’t about to let her hang out to dry because some UNIT major thought she was crying wolf.”

“Which I appreciate,” Martha said graciously.  “As will Julia, when she’s able to say so.” At Barton’s look of confusion, she elaborated, “Julia is a friend of mine, and was one of the victims of whatever it was that came through the Collider.”

“It pretended to be loved ones who’d died,” Patrick said.  “Claimed to be my grandmother, even though I’d never met her before, and my mom’s folks.  Made me want to stay with them.”  He shuddered. “Ianto…Clint…thanks for pulling me out of there.  I don’t think I’d have had the strength to do it on my own.”

“It was trying to do the same for me,” Ianto explained.  “It tried to convince me it was my mother, father, and my sister.” He leaned a little against Toshiko, and she took his weight easily.  “So long dead, and they still haunt me.”

“For me,” Barton put in, “it was my brother.  If whatever the hell it was had tried to tell me it was my parents, I would have run a mile instead of begged to join them.”  He’d gone a little pale, and Martha knew there was a story there but she wasn’t about to pry.

“We’ll do some more research and see if we can identify the alien when we get back to Cardiff,” Toshiko said.  “Maybe there’s something in mainframe that matches it.”

“I’ll phone Jack and we’ll debrief fully in a moment,” Ianto said, “but we do need to get back to our other issue before we do.” 

Martha knew they’d have to figure out just where Agent Barton stood with what he’d seen in the tunnel.  Had he been trying to dodge the subject by bringing up Torchwood?  She didn’t know, but she was inclined to trust him.  However, she also knew that Ianto didn’t just tell anyone about himself; he’d waited years to tell Kathy Swanson, and he’d trusted the detective inspector almost from the start of their friendship. 

“If it helps any,” Barton offered, “I’m pretty sure I know what you are.”

The silence in the room was almost deafening. 

Martha certainly hadn’t expected _that_.

And then Patrick began to laugh.

Barton gave his fellow American a sly smile, as if they were sharing some sort of joke.  Ianto glanced between the two, and Martha was positive she could see the gears whirling in his head. 

“Jesus, Clint,” Patrick chortled.  “That was a ball-breaker of an announcement.” He turned tired eyes on the dragon, who was sitting ramrod straight, staring at Patrick incredulously, almost accusingly.  “And no, I didn’t tell him a thing.  And if you think I did you really don’t know me as well as you think.”  He didn’t seem upset by the silent accusation, only amused by it.

Ianto shook his head.  “Sorry, Patrick.  I didn’t mean anything by that.”

Patrick waved his hand tiredly.  “Nah, don’t worry about it, Boss.  We’re all off our game tonight and Clint’s a bastard who likes to just bust shit out like that whenever he wants to stir things up.”

Barton had turned serious once more.  “Be that as it may,” he said, “I’m completely serious.  You see, I get paid to be observant, whether it’s down the shaft of an arrow or reading the body language of a mark…although, I admit I see much better at a distance.  I didn’t even think something was off when we shook hands earlier, which was my fault really because I wasn’t expecting it.”

Ianto nodded, a small wry smile gracing his lips.  “I do have a higher than average body temperature.”  To Martha’s gaze he appeared relaxed, which was a good thing.  It meant he was taking Barton at face value, and was perfectly willing to listen and accept whatever the agent had to say.

“As I said, it wasn’t something I was expecting,” Barton went on.  “But the eyes, of course, were a dead giveaway.  No pun intended, of course.”

“Of course.  But how do you know about my kind?”

Barton shrugged.  “It’s not common knowledge, but I ran away to the circus when I was kid –“

“The Amazing Hawkeye, the World’s Greatest Marksman,” Patrick interrupted.

“It’s a long, complicated, and in some ways not a pretty story,” the agent went on.  “But at the circus we had a fortune teller, _Madame_ Dominie.  She didn’t think the circus was a place for a nine-year-old, and she tried to get me and my brother to turn ourselves in to various DCS services in the states we travelled through, but when she finally realised we were there to stay she kinda took me under her wing.  She helped me with reading and writing, and was almost like the mother my own mom should have been.

“Anyway, most of the others thought she was just a spectacularly good con artist, when…well, the only way I can describe her was _magical_.  It wasn’t that she did anything like flying on a broomstick or yelling ‘ _Expelliarmus’_ at people, but it was something about the way she saw things; she once told me that I’d only find my soulmate once I’d died, which was just a wee bit spooky, let me tell you.  And she would tell these stories that everyone considered to be fairy tales…but there was such a ring of truth in her voice whenever she spoke of Fae, and Dragons, and Elves…you just had to believe her.  So, when someone whose hands are warmer than normal, whose eyes look older than their face, and then the eyes…well, I could only put it together.”

Martha couldn’t believe it.  She was so relieved she couldn’t help but laugh.  Barton seemed a bit shy at her response, which made her laugh even more.  “So you heard stories as a kid, and when you met Ianto you just happened to add two and two and come up with dragon?”

“I wasn’t hired by SHIELD just for my good looks and charm alone,” Barton answered cheekily.

“And you have plenty of those,” Toshiko quipped, her own voice light with humour.

Barton winked at her.  “Your fiancée is a very lucky lady to have gotten to you first.”

“I like to think that I’m the lucky one,” Toshiko said, blushing slightly.

“Love is a good look for you, Toshiko,” Patrick murmured.  “You wear it very well.”

The technician blushed even redder, resting her head on Ianto’s shoulder.

Ianto was shaking his head, the relief and disbelief plain in his eyes.  “I can’t…sometimes the strangest things are really just as simple as the passing along of old stories.  If you ever want to leave SHIELD, Agent Barton, come to Cardiff and you’ll have a job waiting for you.”

“Thanks, Mr Jones, I do appreciate the offer but I like what I’m doing.  Although the whole ‘alien threat’ part of the job description is tempting.  And I wouldn’t mind seeing your dragon form someday.”

“I think that can be arranged.  And it’s Ianto.  You’ve guessed my deepest secret and seemed willing to keep it.”

“Then it’s Clint.  Of course I’m willing to keep it, although I may have to tell Coulson and Fury about it.  But I won’t put the knowledge in any written report.”

“I’ll hold you to that.  Now,” Ianto pulled out his mobile and began dialling, “it’s time we debriefed so we can all get some sleep.”  He set the phone on the table next to the bed.

_“What are you wearing?”_

The soft smile on Ianto’s face belied the eye rolling he was doing at Jack’s words.  Martha couldn’t help but love those two.  “I’m calling for an official debrief, Jack.  I have the team with me.”

_“Then it’s not the fun kind of debrief, then.”_ Martha could actually hear the pout in Jack’s voice.

“God, you two are disgusting,” Patrick moaned.  “And I can’t even tell you to get a room.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Toshiko replied.

“You’re their biggest fangirl in the Hub,” Patrick mock-accused.  “Of course you’d say that.”

_“Someone sounds like they missed their nap,”_ Jack laughed.

“It’s been a long day,” Ianto said, “I think we _all_ missed out on naptime today.”

_“Everything all tied up then?”_

“Yes, Jack.  And we’re all fine, although Patrick got a little close this time…also we have a guest, besides Martha.  Jack, I’d like to introduce you to Agent Clint Barton, from SHIELD.  Clint, this is Captain Jack Harkness, Director of the Torchwood Institute.”

“Nice to meet you,” Barton – Clint – said in a friendly tone, waving his hand toward the phone as if Jack was standing right there.

There was a pause, and then Jack said lightly, _“We inviting strangers to our meetings now, Ianto?”_

“I’ve invited him because he saved both Patrick and myself in the course of our investigations.”

There was yet another pause.  _“Then of course you’re welcome, Agent Barton.”_

“Thank you, Captain,” the SHIELD agent replied. 

The debrief didn’t take long, but then they were interrupted by a Rift alert and Jack had to head out to check on it.  Martha said her farewells with the others, ready to go back to her room and call Tom to say goodnight.  Patrick had fallen asleep halfway through the phone call, and Ianto looked disappointed that the call had to be ended. He and Clint got Patrick into Ianto’s bed and stripped out of his clothes, setting his gun on the side table so he’d see it when he awoke.  Martha knew how much her American friend liked his guns and would be upset if his was missing. 

“Where will you sleep?” Clint asked as the team left the room and Patrick to his well-deserved sleep.

Ianto shrugged.  “I don’t sleep well in my human form, so I’ll wait until we get back to Cardiff.  I can go for days without really sleeping.”

“And Ianto is a nervous flyer,” Toshiko teased.

“I don’t think I ever expected to hear _that_ ,” Clint snorted.  “Of course, I also didn’t expect to meet _you_ today, either.”  He left what Ianto was unsaid, and Martha knew already that it hadn’t been a mistake to let him in on things.  “I do have to ask, though…what would have you done if I hadn’t…you know, already guessed?  And if Patrick hadn’t vouched for me?”

“Let’s just say it’s a good thing you’re not a virgin,” Martha replied, keeping her face and voice serious.  “You aren’t, are you?”

Eyes wide, Clint shook his head.

“It’s so hard to find them these days,” Ianto moaned dramatically.  “I’ve lost so much weight since moving to Cardiff…”

The confusion cleared from Clint’s features.  “Wait, this is a joke, right?”

Toshiko was letting herself into her room when she said, “Ianto likes his virgins with Dijon mustard.  Don’t ask me why.”  She pushed the door open.  “Ianto, you’re welcome to stay in with me tonight.  I doubt you’ll keep me awake.”

“Thanks, Tosh,” the dragon answered.  “Can I borrow your laptop to get my reports started?”

“Sure, no problem.  At least you don’t download porn like Owen does.”

Ianto gave Martha a hug, and she leaned into him for a little longer than was strictly necessary; but then, Ianto gave good hugs.  Then he turned and winked at Clint, following Toshiko into her hotel room and shutting the door behind them.

Clint was giving her the stink-eye, and Martha just grinned and said, “C’mon, let’s get a room for you for tonight. It’s too bad we didn’t think to get Patrick’s room key from him, you could’ve kipped there. If I know Ianto he’ll also arrange for us to go back to Cardiff tomorrow and I’m sure I can convince him to charge any room to Torchwood.  I’d offer to share with you, but my Tom might not appreciate it.”

“That’s fine,” Clint answered brightly.  “My boyfriend might not appreciate it, either.”

Martha laughed.  If the rumours she’d heard during that Year were true, she knew exactly who his boyfriend was, and she wasn’t about to get on the bad side of Agent Phillip Coulson.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, the end of this particular story. Next up... "Remember", the Dragon-verse version of "Adam". It should start posting after the holidays. 
> 
> Also, I have a future-fic ready to post, and a sequel to "The Breaking" that will most likely go up for Christmas. Stay tuned!

 

**_11 September 2008_ **

 

****

Ianto managed to find himself, Toshiko, and Patrick a flight that would get them back into Cardiff by late afternoon, which meant they would be staying in Geneva for a little bit longer.

The team – joined once more by Clint Barton – had breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant.  Patrick was the last to join them, but he looked very much better than he had the night before, inhaling his coffee and ordering the biggest stack of pancakes he could get.  Ianto gave them their flight information, after which Toshiko called Kathy to let her know when she would be home. 

Ianto tried to call Jack, but his phone went right to voicemail.

He left the message, but continued to stare at his mobile until Martha asked him what was wrong.

“Jack didn’t answer,” the dragon said, puzzled.  “He never turns his mobile off.”

“They had a call-out last night, right?” Toshiko asked.  When Ianto nodded, she went on, “Maybe there was something about what they went to retrieve that damaged Jack’s phone?  It wouldn’t be the first time.”

She had a point.  In fact, there was a special fund for damaged or destroyed phones, because Torchwood went through them like Myfanwy did with chocolate bars.

“Well, he’ll get the message if his phone is working,” Ianto replied, “and I’ll go ahead and call the land line…” 

He dialled it, and after about three rings Deborah answered the line.  _“Tourist Information Office, Mermaid Quay, Deborah Morrison speaking.”_

“Deborah, it’s Ianto.”

_“Ianto!”_ She sounded very happy to hear from him.  _“Please tell me you’re all coming back soon.”_

He laughed.  “Yes, our flight comes into Cardiff at 4:25pm.  Is everything alright?”

_“Oh yes,”_ the young woman answered, _“I’m just a bit tired of Owen’s complaining about the quality of the coffee and Jack looking like someone kicked his puppy.”_

Ianto felt a warm glow in his chest, knowing that Jack had missed him.  “I don’t know why Owen complains…I’m the one who taught you to use the coffee machine, and you caught onto it quickly.”  He didn’t add that he’d also once tried to show Owen, but the prickly doctor had nearly destroyed the machine the first time he’d attempted to use it.

_“Swears he can tell the difference…oh, Jack, Rhys, and Owen are on their way back, I see them on the CCTV.  Better get them at least some caffeine brewing.”_

“They were out on another Rift call?”  Ianto frowned.  He knew about the callout late last night, but it must have been a bad one if they were only just now coming back to base.

Deborah chuckled.  _“I think you’re forgetting the time difference, Ianto…oh, looks like there’s someone with them I don’t recognise.  Let me have Jack give you a call as soon as he can, okay?”_

“Sounds good.”  Yes, the dragon had forgotten that Cardiff was an hour behind Geneva.  But that went right out of his head at Deborah’s comment about the team bringing someone in with them. He wanted to stay on the line long enough to get an explanation but knew Jack would read him in as soon as he could.  “See you when we get back.”

_“Safe flight!”_

Ianto hung up, chewing his lip thoughtfully.  Could it be someone who’d been left by the Rift?  But wouldn’t Jack have taken them to Flat Holm?  Why bring them back to the Hub?  Hell, Rhys hadn’t been informed about the island yet; Owen knew, because he was the perfect person to have on call for medical emergencies, and Toshiko helped out sometimes with the facility’s hardware. 

“What’s wrong?” Patrick asked. 

“Looks like someone came through the Rift,” the dragon answered slowly.  “The team was bringing them back to the Hub, according to Deborah.”

“Wait,” Clint cut in, “this Rift thing you have in Cardiff…it drops people off?  From where?”

“Pretty much anywhere,” Toshiko answered, taking a sip of her juice.  “The Rift has one end anchored in Cardiff, but the other end vacillates through space and time.  If someone came through…they could be from anywhere and anytime.  We mostly get pieces and odds and ends of technology, but every once in a while…some poor soul is deposited to Earth.”

“The Rift can also take away,” Ianto murmured, thinking of the damaged people that they were taking care of on Flat Holm.  The ones that had been sucked in and then dumped back out were the ones in the worst shape; the ones who would never be the same, no matter what treatment there was available.  His mind went to poor Jonah Bevin, who screamed his life away with only short periods of lucidity, and he couldn’t help but shudder a little.

Clint was staring at Patrick, who managed to shovel two heaping forks’ full of pancake into his mouth before noticing.  “What?” he asked, swallowing.

“Are you sure you want to be in a place where you might be scooped up and taken away at the whim of some sort of weird space/time anomaly?” the SHIELD agent asked, worry in his face and voice.

Patrick shrugged.  “Someone has to do it.”  He put his fork down.  “Sure, I didn’t know what I was getting into when I went to that first interview, but when it was all explained to me…I realised it was where I wanted to be.  And yes, I could do some good with the FBI if I’d stayed with them, but what Torchwood does…it may start in Cardiff, but there are some things that we deal with that could possibly have world-wide consequences.  And it’s certainly not pretty, but I’m doing this because it’s my contribution to the planet even though no one will ever know I’ve just saved the family down the road…or the population of the Earth.  It’s important, what we do, and I’m proud to do it.”

Ianto couldn’t help but smile, his heart warming at the American’s words.  “And we’re proud that you’re a part of our team,” he said, putting his hand on Patrick’s shoulder. 

“A part of our _family_ ,” Toshiko added, toasting him with her glass.

The tips of Patrick’s ears turned pink, and he went back to his breakfast with a vengeance.  Martha laughed, punching him lightly in the shoulder. 

“I guess this means I get to report back that you’ve found your calling,” Clint said, his smile belying his serious tone. 

Ianto could understand why that would be important to Patrick’s own family.  While he knew that it had been Patrick’s grandfather, Canton Everett Delaware III, to have forwarded his CV to him and Jack, he couldn’t have known exactly what he would be getting Patrick into.  Hearing from Clint Barton that Patrick was alright and thriving would be a relief to them all. 

He was concerned that Patrick’s family had obviously been worried, though he didn’t bring it up.  Instead, he said, “And if you could please tell whoever it is shipping Patrick explosives in diplomatic packages that he’s been busted and to please stop?”

Clint laughed, choking on a bit of bacon as he did so.  He took a swig of his coffee, managing to bring the coughing under control.  “I’ll be more than happy to deliver that message.”

“Of course,” Ianto went on, “if whoever this is can come up with a creative way to get such explosives to Patrick without Jack and I finding out…well, creativity is always appreciated.”

“They never catch whoever it is who hacks eBay once a month or so,” Toshiko said innocently, promptly munching on her toast to avoid saying anything else.

“Because I’m sure the Director of the Torchwood Institute and his Second in Command have better things to do than to monitor eBay,” Martha replied, giving the dragon a side-eye he could feel through his temple. 

“Of course,” Ianto answered matter-of-factly.  “We’re both far too busy to pay much attention to what happens online…and what new shoes Toshiko happens to wear into the Hub on any given day.”  He gave his technician a grin.  “I did like those boots you had on last week. Were they any particular brand?”

“Salvatore Ferragamo.”  Toshiko looked smug.  “Oh, and I found another Dogon Sixth Eye that really shouldn’t have been left to its own devices.  It should have arrived at the Hub by now, given the slowness of the mail.”

Ianto rolled his eyes.  “At the rate those Eyes show up for auction, I’m surprised the Dogon race aren’t extinct.” He’d have to ask Deborah if any packages had arrived for him when they arrived home.

“You really need to explain that to me,” Clint demanded, his eyes wide like a child who was being shown a roomful of candy.  “Do these Dogon really have six eyes and what’s so special about it?”

The dragon chuckled.  “That is a long story, and one that will most likely have to wait.  Shouldn’t you and Martha be getting back to CERN soon?”

Martha nodded.  “You’re right.  I have patients to look after and more clean-up to do.”

“Yeah,” Clint made a face, “I should probably get back to what I was sent over to do…which is look after the baby scientists.  I’m sure Sitwell is grinding his teeth and cursing my name right about now.”

“Finish up eating,” Ianto replied, “and thanks again for your help, Clint.”

“No problem,” the SHIELD agent answered.  “There was no way I was gonna go back to Coulson and tell him that his favourite nephew ended up dying in a tunnel in Switzerland.”

“I’m actually his only nephew,” Patrick pointed out.  “And you know that, Barton.”

He just grinned winningly.  This just cemented Ianto’s opinion of the man that he was a smart-arse and wasn’t ashamed of the fact.  He found himself thinking that Clint Barton would actually fit in very well with the rest of the team, and wished he and Jack had been the ones to recruit him.  Oh well…at least they had an ally within SHIELD, which was a bonus out of this mission.

The group finished their breakfast, and then went their separate ways, Ianto making certain that Barton had his business card in case the agent was ever in Cardiff.  The archer gave the dragon an irreverent, two-fingered saluted and then presented his arm to Martha, offering to escort her back to CERN.  Martha accepted gracefully, calling back over her shoulder saying that she’d call once she was back in London. 

Ianto found he was going to miss both of them. 

 

**********

 

The flight back to Cardiff was nerve-wracking for the dragon, and he was glad to finally be back on solid ground once more.  And it wasn’t just because being trapped in what was basically a tin-can; he still hadn’t heard from Jack.

Together the three of them made their way through the crowds at Cardiff International, and Ianto took a deep breath of the filtered, overly-cold air of the airport.  Even though it tasted artificial on his tongue, the dragon ignored that part of it and enjoyed it for what it was…the breath of home.

They headed toward baggage claim, and Ianto had expected to see someone from the team to meet them there…but there was no one.

He frowned, reaching into his pocket for his mobile.  He turned it on, noticing that there were still no messages waiting for him. So, there’d been no call-outs; Jack would have phoned to let him know if no one was being sent to pick them up. 

“What’s wrong?” Patrick asked, manhandling one of their bags off the carousel.  It looked like it might have been Toshiko’s. 

“I was expecting at least Deborah to be here to meet us,” Toshiko said before Ianto could speak. 

“So was I.”  Ianto speed-dialled Jack’s mobile.

It went straight to voice mail.

The frown turned into an unhappy press of his lips.  Alright, he could see Jack’s phone getting damaged in some way, but it had been hours since he’d last tried to call his mate, and he should have had a new mobile by now.  There was absolutely no reason for Jack not to answer.

Worry coiled deep in his stomach.  Something was very wrong. 

Hands shaking slightly, Ianto dialled the main Hub landline.  It rang six times before it went to the machine.

No, something was more than wrong.

“We need to get back to the Hub,” he growled.  “Neither Jack nor Deborah are answering there.”

Toshiko had her mobile out, and judging from the look on her face whatever number she’d called was doing the same thing.  “Nothing from Owen, either.  I’m not sure I even want to attempt to try Rhys at this point, out of fear he won’t answer as well.”

“We’ll get a cab back to the Plass,” Ianto ordered.  “Patrick, make sure your weapon is ready, just in case.”

“No problem, Boss.”  The American already had his suitcase on the floor, and was unzipping it and retrieving his sidearm and ammunition.  He was getting some strange looks, but he didn’t seem to notice as he dug the gun, holster, and spare clips out from under his shirts, tucking it into his belt and the clips in his jacket pocket.  He threw everything back into case without any sort of care as to the condition of his clothes.

Both Patrick and Toshiko had their game faces on.  They knew something bad must have occurred to have made the rest of the team incommunicado.  Ianto glanced at each in turn; Patrick gave him a firm nod, while Toshiko met his eyes with an expression of fierce determination.

No one messed with their family, if that was indeed the case.  Ianto didn’t have any reason to think otherwise, since it looked like the entire team was down.

He grabbed the handle of his case and strode toward the exit doors, Patrick and Toshiko flanking him with their own luggage.  Ianto could feel the wrath growing as he stopped at the taxi stand, not having to wait long at all for one to stop in front of them.  The driver helped them stow their luggage in the boot of his cab, and it was an intense silence as the trio rode back toward the Hub.

Ianto chewed his thumbnail as Cardiff whizzed past.  He didn’t see any of it, his mind fixed on his mate and what could have caused the lack of response from his and Toshiko’s phone calls.  Certainly, they could have been called out, but Jack would have left some sort of message on Ianto’s mobile if that had been the case, and not every phone they’d tried would have gone straight to message.  Especially not the one in the Hub; Deborah didn’t go out into the field, and she would have been left there to man the Tourist Office even if the others had gone out on a Rift alert. 

Of course, she could have been on the way to pick them up at the airport, but once again there would have been a message left for Ianto to receive once they’d deplaned, if just to keep them from catching a cab like they had done.  Of course Deborah had her own mobile, and the dragon attempted it while they were sitting at a traffic signal, but to no avail.

This wasn’t good at all, that no one was answering.

He heard a quiet clicking sound, and Ianto turned to regard Patrick, who had his gun tucked into his lap and was checking the clip and action, trying to do it silently enough that their driver wouldn’t catch on to what he was doing.  Patrick glanced over, meeting Ianto’s eyes, and the dragon could see the concern and determination in them.  He knew that whatever happened, he’d have both Patrick and Toshiko at his back. 

It didn’t seem to take any time at all to arrive at the Plass.  The cab let them off at the entrance on Bute Road, and the three of them collected their luggage and headed across the Plass, ducking into the early evening crowds as they made their way toward Torchwood’s entrance on the Quay.  “Alright,” Ianto said, bringing them to a halt near the invisible lift.  “I’m going to take the lift down.  Patrick, I want you and Toshiko to go through the main entrance.  Tosh, you’ll need to cut the alarm on the cog door before you go in.  I’d like to have the advantage of surprise if something is wrong.”

“And if there isn’t?” she asked, even though the dragon could tell she believed like he did, that the team had somehow been compromised. 

“Then the Jack and Owen will get to laugh their arses off at us for being paranoid.” 

“God, I don’t want to be on the receiving end of Owen’s shit,” Patrick sighed, sounding very put-upon.  “Please let there be something wrong…”

Ianto couldn’t help but shake his head, a smile half-forming on his face.  He knew Patrick didn’t mean it like that, but he could certainly go along with the sentiment.  Owen could be a right prat when he had something to tease about.

Toshiko smacked him in the shoulder.  “I can take care of the door, don’t worry.”

“I always do, of course.”  He did.  The majority of his team were painfully human, and anything could happen to them at any time.  He and Jack, though…they would be forever, unless the dragon himself received some sort of catastrophic injury, leaving Jack alone…no, he would do everything in his power to prevent that from occurring.

“I’ll give you both five minutes,” he went on, “and then I’ll head down.” He wished they had their comms, but hadn’t taken them with when they’d left for Geneva, since there would have been no reason to.  And, because of events, there was only one of the special comms left after their adventure at CERN; two had met sticky ends in the Collider tunnel, and one had been smashed to pieces when Oliver Harrington had taken Martha hostage.  They would be going in without communications, and it made Ianto nervous.

However, there was nothing for it.  “The sound of the lift should distract whoever is down in the Hub from you both going in.  Toshiko, there should be a stun gun in the drawer under the counter in the Tourist Office, so you won’t be unarmed.”  Deborah had asked for one, for self-defence, and she’d become quite good at using it.

He pulled the ever-present stopwatch from his waistcoat pocket.  “You have five minutes from…now.”  He clicked the button and set it running.

Ianto watched as his friends strode down the Plass and toward Mermaid Quay.  He took a deep breath then stepped onto the paving stone for the invisible lift, pulling his wheeled case up after him, not wanting to leave it on the Plass for anyone to find.  He kept his eye on the sweeping hand of the stopwatch as he pulled the key fob to his Audi from his trouser pocket, where he’d hooked the ‘key’ to the lift’s mechanism to his key ring ever since Suzie had cobbled one together for him.  Toshiko had improved upon the design, and now it closely resembled a car alarm control.

His heart began beating faster the closer the time came for him to descend into the Hub.  Ianto found himself praying to the Great Dragons that he was being overly paranoid and that Jack would get the chance to tease him mercilessly for days for coming in, metaphorical guns blazing.  He didn’t want to even consider that something was wrong just under his feet. 

But, if there was, then he and his two teammates would do something about it.

The stopwatch hit five minutes, and Ianto pressed the red button on his so-called car remote.  The lift rumbled into life, dropping him down through the ground level of the Plass and into the Hub.

As he went deeper, he passed Myfanwy’s nest, and Ianto could hear the pteranodon rustling within.  She usually greeted anyone coming down the lift, but this time she didn’t rouse. 

Ianto didn’t know if he should be worried about that, as well.

Down below, the floor of the Hub got closer.  The interior of the Torchwood Hub was dark and quiet, and Ianto realised that the team must really be out…and then he caught the sense of his mate, somewhere below him, and Ianto’s unease grew.  He would have expected Jack to come out to meet him, but there was no movement at all in the main area, only gloom with the faint lights of the various computer terminals winking almost merrily in the darkness.

It was even more disturbing than the LHC tunnel, and he shivered slightly as the stone ground to a halt.

Leaving his luggage on the lift, Ianto stepped off onto the mesh metal plating of the Hub’s floor, his senses on red alert.  It was utterly quiet, only the drip of water the only accompaniment to his exploration of what was one of his homes, now strange and surreal.

He didn’t even sense the presence behind him, but he did hear the soft voice whisper in his ear, “Remember…”

A sharp pain pierced Ianto’s head, and there was a sudden upsurge in music…music only he could hear, the song of the Earth Dragon, living within him since his sister’s mating flight oh so long ago.

And then, everything went black.

 

 

 


End file.
